A prospective study to compare the effects of preemptive piroxicam and oral dexamethasone on edema, trismus and pain in third molar surgery: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Surgical extraction of impacted third molars is an increasingly common procedure especially in the age group of 18-45 years. While standard procedures exist for sterilization, instrument use and surgical technique, the prescription following the surgery varies almost with each surgeon. A broad overview exists on which medications are to be prescribed- antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics, but there is a lack of evidence supporting any single anti-inflammatory and analgesic regimen or specific drug compounds that provide better results. Moreover, there is large variability in terms of what the patient is to expect in terms of post-operative discomfort. Studies are needed to probe further into the postoperative prescription and search for drug compounds that can provide relief to the patient, in terms of pain, edema and trismus, in the period following surgery with minimum adverse effects. This study aims to compare the effects of pre-emptive piroxicam and oral dexamethasone on pain, swelling and trismus following third molar surgery.