Anti-Inflammatory Effectiveness of Oral Dexamethasone 4 mg on Mandibular Third Molar Surgeries: A Split-Mouth Randomized Clinical Trial

This study aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of oral dexamethasone 4 mg in a single dose preemptively administered to reduce pain, swelling, and trismus following mandibular third molar surgeries. A split-mouth randomized clinical trial was performed including 22 participants undergoing surgical removal of bilateral and symmetrically positioned third molars. A total of 44 teeth were allocated by simple randomization to either the test or nonintervention/control side. Oral dexamethasone 4 mg was administered on the test side an hour before the surgery. All of the participants were unaware of the medication studied, and only 1 surgeon, blinded to the medication intake, performed all of the procedures. Anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated using the clinical parameters of mouth opening, swelling, and rescue analgesic medication intake to control pain. The statistical analysis was blinded to the allocation groups, and a significance value P