Is bromelain effective in controlling the inflammatory parameters of pain, edema, and trismus after lower third molar surgery? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the clinical evidences of the bromelain in minimizing inflammatory parameters such as pain, edema, and trismus after lower third molar surgeries. An electronic search was conducted in six databases through November 2017. The eligibility criteria included randomized and non-randomized clinical trials and/or comparative studies that used bromelain after lower third molar surgeries. The search strategy resulted in 117 articles. Following the selection process, seven studies were included in the systematic review and four in the meta-analysis. In terms of the risk of bias analysis, all the evaluated studies were classified as low or unclear risk of bias in the following criteria: selection bias, detection bias, and reporting bias. The final quantitative analysis of the variables showed that the use of bromelain resulted in greater reduction of pain levels (mean difference [MD]: -0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI; -0.66 to -0.09]), edema (MD: -0.34; 95% CI [ -0.68 to -0.01]), and trismus (MD: -2.01; 95% CI [ -3.99 to -0.02]) among the analyzed groups. The results suggest that the bromelain appears to be effective in the control of pain, edema, and trismus after lower third molar surgeries; however, further high-quality studies are needed to confirm this finding.

Keywords: bromelain; postoperative period; review; third molar; tooth extraction.