Background: Sutures used in oral and maxillofacial surgery behave differently from those used for other parts of the body due to differences in the quality of tissue involved, constant presence of saliva, high level of vascularisation and the presence of functions of speech, chewing and swallowing. Aim of study: To compare the efficacy of different suture materials used in minor oral surgical procedure. Materials and method: The study was conducted in the Department of oral surgery of the dental college. We selected 50 patients undergoing surgical extraction of third molars. The patients were chosen randomly, with 25 maxillary and 25 mandibular surgical interventions. Patients were followed-up on the days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 postoperatively and were evaluated for following factors a) incidence of wound dehiscence (postoperative days 1, 3 and 7); and b) occurrence of local tissue reaction (postoperative days 1, 7, 14 and 21). The statistical analysis of the data was done using SPSS for windows. Results: Dehiscence was more with dexon followed by catgut and vicryl rapide. However results were non- significant. Dexon showed maximum number of patients, while vicryl rapid showed minimal. Results were statistically significant. Conclusion:  Vicryl rapide has the best properties of the available absorbable suture materials for application in oral surgery.
Keywords: Sutures, Oral surgery, extraction, catgut

Corresponding Author: Dr. Junaid Ashraf, Consultant Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, GDC Srinagar. drjunaidjvc@gmail.com

This article may be cited as: Ashraf J. Comparative efficacy of different suture materials used in minor oral surgical procedure. Int J Res Health Allied Sci 2017;3(6):64-66.