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. 2012 Nov 1;17(6):e994-9.
doi: 10.4317/medoral.17677.

Quality of life following third molar removal under conscious sedation

Manuel Sancho-Puchades  1 , Eduard Valmaseda-Castellón, Leonardo Berini-Aytés, Cosme Gay-Escoda
Affiliations

Quality of life following third molar removal under conscious sedation

Manuel Sancho-Puchades et al. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. .

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess quality of life (QoL) and degree of satisfaction among outpatients subjected to surgical extraction of all four third molars under conscious sedation. A second objective was to describe the evolution of self-reported pain measured in a visual analogue scale (VAS) in the 7 days after extraction.

Study design: Fifty patients received a questionnaire assessing social isolation, working isolation, eating and speaking ability, diet modifications, sleep impairment, changes in physical appearance, discomfort at suture removal and overall satisfaction at days 4 and 7 after surgery. Pain was recorded by patients on a 100-mm pain visual analogue scale (VAS) every day after extraction until day 7.

Results: Thirty-nine patients fulfilled correctly the questionnaire. Postoperative pain values suffered small fluctuations until day 5 (range: 23 to 33 mm in a 100-mm VAS), when dicreased significantly. A positive association was observed between difficult ranked surgeries and higher postoperative pain levels. The average number of days for which the patient stopped working was 4.9.

Conclusion: The removal of all third molars in a single appointment causes an important deterioration of the patient's QoL during the first postoperative week, especially due to local pain and eating discomfort.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Evolution of the self-reported VAS of pain during the postoperative period. The vertical axis represents VAS scores (from 0 to 100 mm). Circles represent outlier values. Asterisks represent extreme values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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