Intrasocket interventions to prevent alveolar osteitis after mandibular third molar surgery: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

Abstract

A systematic review and network meta-analysis was carried out to assess the efficacy of different intrasocket interventions immediately after mandibular third molar surgery to prevent alveolar osteitis (AO). An electronic search was undertaken using EMBASE, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, LILACS, and grey literature. We reviewed studies published up to September 2019 and included 37 randomized controlled trials (6175 mandibular third molar surgeries in 4716 patients). The pairwise meta-analysis showed that the incidence of AO decreased significantly when an intrasocket intervention was performed (risk ratio 0.39 [0.30, 0.52]; p < 0.0001). Platelet-rich fibrin (odds ratio 0.28; 95% CI [0.10, 0.71]), chlorhexidine gel 0.2% (0.52 [0.32, 0.95]), eugenol paste (0.06 [0.00, 0.77]), recombinant bovine growth factor (0.07 [0.00, 0.97]), colloidal silver gelatin sponge (0.05 [0.00, 0.74]), and acellular dermal matrix (0.04 [0.00, 0.74]) were significantly more effective than the placebo. Platelet-rich fibrin and chlorhexidine 0.2% gel had a large number of included studies and patients per comparison. Overall, there was moderate evidence to support the use of platelet-rich fibrin or chlorhexidine 0.2% gel in the socket for the prevention of AO after mandibular third molar surgery.

Keywords: Alveolar osteitis; Dry socket; Evidence-based dentistry; Network meta-analysis; Third molar.