Date: April 2021.
Source: J Dent Oral Care 7(1): 1-9.
Objective: The aim was to test the null-hypothesis of no difference in pain, trismus, swelling and quality of life following surgical removal of mandibular third molar (SRM3) with 30 minutes of immediate cryotherapy compared with no cryotherapy using clinical assessment, visual analogue scale (VAS), questionnaires and three-dimensional imaging.
Materials and Methods: : Thirty-one patients (14 men and 17 female) were randomly allocated to cryotherapy (test) or no cryotherapy (control) in a split-mouth study design. Preoperative measurements included VAS score of pain, maximum mouth opening, delineation of facial morphology using three-dimensional imaging and oral health impact profile-14. Pain, trismus, swelling and quality of life were assessed after one day, three days, seven days and one month, respectively. Swelling was analysed using superimposition of three-dimensional facial surfaces and template matching technique. Descriptive and generalised estimating equation analyses were made. Level of significance was 0.05.
Results: Thirty minutes of immediate cryotherapy following SRM3 revealed no statistically significant differences in pain, trismus, swelling or quality of life compared with no cryotherapy. Females disclosed significant less pain after one month compared with males (P< 0.05). Trismus was significantly associated with increased length of surgery (P< 0.05).
Conclusions: The therapeutic efficiency of cryotherapy following SRM3 seems to be negligible. However, further randomised controlled trials assessing longer use of cryotherapy or intermittent application are needed before definite conclusions can be provided about the beneficial use of cryotherapy following SRM3.
Article: Surgical Removal of Mandibular Third Molars with or without the Use of Cryotherapy; a Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Marie Kjaergaard Larsen, Thomas Kofod, Tron Darvann, Kirsten Duch, Thomas Starch-Jensen. 3D Craniofacial Image Research Laboratory, School of Dentistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.