Background: Alveolar osteitis is one of the most frequent complications after lower third molar extraction, and is usually accompanied by inflammation, pain and poor wound healing. Several local interventions have been used to reduce these complications with limited effectiveness.
Purpose: To clinically evaluate the use of propolis extract, nanovitamin C and nanovitamin E gel for the prevention of surgical complications related to impacted lower third molar extraction.
Methods: A randomized, triple-blind, split-mouth, pilot study is being performed in patients needing bilateral lower third molar extraction with similar surgical difficulty. Surgical extractions are randomly being performed and NBF gingival gel (TG) or placebo (PBG) are randomly being applied inside postextraction sockets by a blinded surgeon. The patients are being instructed to apply it 3 times/day in the surgical wound for 7 days. One month later, the contralateral wisdom tooth is being extracted and the opposite gel is being applied. Alveolar osteitis (AO) is being diagnosed following Blum's criteria. Swelling is being assessed by measuring the facial perimeter. Wound healing is being evaluated with a semi-quantitative scale as good, satisfactory or insufficient. Postoperative pain is being recorded using a visual analog scale (VAS) for 7 days. Analgesic pill intake is being recorded by each patient. Variables are being registered by a blinded researcher to 3M extractions at one, two, three and seven postoperative days.