Evaluation of combination of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory intra-socket medication on post-operative complications following mandibular third molar surgeries

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of combined antibiotic and anti-inflammatory intra-socket medication (ophthalmological combination medications containing dexamethasone-neomycin and chloramphenicol) on post-operative pain, swelling and dry socket following mandibular third molar surgeries.
Material and methods: The study was conducted among 60 subjects randomly divided into two groups of 30 each. Control group received only gelfoam and study group received eye /ear drops containing chloramphenicol (Chlorocol) & dexamethasone with neomycin (Dexacort N) along with gelfoam as an intra-socket medication after mandibular third molar removal procedure, both followed by suturing of extraction site. The surgeries and follow up examinations were performed by the same surgeon. The follow upvisits were performed at 24 hours and on day six, post-surgery where presence or absence of dry socket was evaluated and pain intensity by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 0 - 10 was observed. Obtained data was analyzed using SPSS 16 for comparison of pain experience, swelling and dry socket incidence among both the groups.
Results: In the present study, subjects in study and control groups suffered from moderate to severe pain 24 hrs after third molar extraction procedure (p<0.05), whereas after 6 days, subjects in both the groups suffered from mild to moderate pain (p<0.05). After 6 days of surgery, no swelling was seen in study group whereas 9 patients in the control groups had swelling. 4 subjects (13.3%) in the study groups suffered from dry socket as compared to 10 subjects (33.3%) in control group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The application of combined antibiotic and anti-inflammatory intra-socket medications significantly reduced the incidence of post-operative complications following third molar extraction.