Comparison between local infiltration and intramuscular dexamethasone in surgical extraction of molar teeth

Background: A tooth extraction is a procedure to remove a tooth from the bony socket. It is usually done by a general dentist, oral surgeon ect. Most common cause of tooth extraction is badly decayed tooth, periodontitis, impaction. The extraction of impacted third molars is one of the most common operative procedure in oral surgery. The surgical removal of impacted third molars involves trauma to the soft and bony tissue that can result in considerable pain, swelling and trismus Corticosteroids such as dexamethasone may inhibit the inflammatory sequelae after third molar surgery. Materials and methods: The study was conducted on total of 30 subjects, with age group above 18 years. The patients were divided into two groups. Each group contained 15 subjects, group A subjects received local infiltration of dexamethasone 4 mg near the surgical site on buccal vestibule and group B subjects received intramuscular dexamethasone 4 mg in deltoid muscle before operation. Results: The results obtained show that submucosal dexamethasone is an effective alternative to dexamethasone given systemically. Conclusion: The submucosal dexamethasone associate with a significant reduction in swelling on 1-2days. This study has shown that a dexamethasone injected submucosally is better than intramuscularly in third molar surgery.