Evaluation of the effectiveness of tube drain on postoperative discomfort in mandibular third molar surgery: prospective randomized split-mouth study

Introduction: The present randomized split-mouth study aimed to investigate the clinical effectiveness of postoperative discomfort of the use of a surgical drain after lower third molar extraction. Materials and methods: It was conducted a prospective randomized split-mouth study involving 30 patients with bilateral symmetric lower third molar. Each patient underwent two operations for the extraction of impacted teeth: test site (tube drain) and control site (conventional total closure of surgical flap), resulting in 30 cases in the test group, and 30 cases in the control group. Pain, swelling, and mouth opening were evaluated immediately before the surgeries, after 1, 3 and 7 days postoperatively in both groups. Data were analyzed with non-parametric test (Kruskal-Wallis test and the post hoc Dun test, and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test). Results: Facial swelling (p <.001) was significantly less in test group compared with the control group on all examined days. Trismus is significantly reduced only on the third day (p <.001); Pain measurements did not differ statistically significantly between the two groups on all post-operative days (p >.05). Conclusion: The use of the tube drain reduced facial swelling and trismus, but had no influence on the subjective perception of postoperative pain.