Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Debate has taken place for many years on the relative postoperative morbidities of different methods of surgical extraction of impacted mandibular third molars. Surgical methods need to be those which reduce the risk of complications to a minimum. Hence; the present study was conducted for assessing and comparing the efficacy of lingual split technique and bur technique for removal of impacted lower third molar. Materials & methods: A total of 40 patients scheduled to undergo surgical procedure for removal of impacted mandibular third molar were enrolled in the present study. All the patients were divided into two study groups as follows with 20 patients in each group: Group 1: Patients who underwent impacted third molar removal with lingual split technique, and Group 2: Patients who underwent impacted third molar removal with conventional bur technique. All the procedures were carried out under the hands of skilled and experienced oral surgeons. Pederson scale used for difficulty index was used for comparison among both the study groups. Higher value on Pederson scale indicated increased difficulty level. Follow-up was done upto a time period of 7 days and postoperative pain was assessed on VAS (visual analogue scale). Results: While comparing the Pederson difficulty index in between the two study groups, non-significant results were obtained. While comparing the mean VAS at different time intervals in between the two study groups, non-significant results were obtained. While comparing the mean duration of surgery among the two study groups, significant results were obtained. Also, while comparing the mean mouth opening at different postoperative time intervals in between the two study groups, non-significant results was obtained. Conclusion: Both the techniques were equally effective in controlling postoperative pain and swelling among patients undergoing removal of impacted lower third molar. However; lingual split technique was less time consuming in comparison to bur technique. Key words: Third molar, Lingual split, Bur