Relationship Between Types of Information, Dental Anxiety, and Postoperative Pain Following Third Molar Surgery: A Randomized Study

Third molar (M3) extraction is an anxiety–provoking procedure. Information mode delivery may affect patients' anxiety level and postoperative sequelae. This study determined the relationship between information types, dental anxiety, and postoperative pain following mandibular M3 extraction. Patients (aged 18 to 35 years) requiring M3 extraction under local anesthesia were recruited into this prospective randomized study conducted in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife. Patients were randomized to two groups; verbal or audiovisual depending on M3 extraction information received. Primary outcome variable (difference in anxiety between groups) was assessed with State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and Modified Dental Anxiety Scale(MDAS). Pain recorded on postoperative days (PODs) 1, 3, and 7 using the Visual Analog Scale was the secondary outcome. Other covariables include biodata, impaction types, and difficulty indices. Data analysis was descriptive and bivariate using IBM/SPSS for Windows, version 23 (SPSS, Chicago, IL USA) with significance set at P