Objective: To compare the anti-inflammatory effectiveness of dexamethasone as pre-surgical and post-surgical therapy in mandibular third molar surgery. Materials and methods: Randomized clinical trial conducted in 60 patients in need of mandibular third molar extraction, ages ranging from 16 to 35 years old, at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the Arzobispo Loayza National Hospital during the period of January-March, 2016. Patients were distributed in two randomized groups: Group A received 4mg dexamethasone intramuscular before the surgery, and Group B received the same medication post-surgery. Facial edema was assessed using the distance between facial points, trismus was evaluated using the interincisal distance, and pain intensity was determined using a Numerical Scale (NS). Results: Facial edema values were lower in Group A at 60 minutes (p=0.002) and after the first (p=0.001) and third days (p=0.009), compared to Group B. Regarding trismus, no significant differences between the groups were found. Regarding pain intensity, the highest point was recorded at 6 hours in both groups; however, no significant differences between the groups were found. Conclusion: Pre-surgical dexamethasone administration produced a significantly greater reduction in facial edema after mandibular third molar surgery.

Background. There are several invasive dental procedures that require local anesthetics. However, its infiltration is usually associated with anxiety and fear, increasing the perception of pain in pediatric patients. For this reason, it is important to evaluate different strategies for its application. We compared the anesthetic effect of the administration of 2% lidocaine with epinephrine 1:80000 non-alkalized at slow speed and alkalized at fast speed to block the inferior alveolar nerve in deciduous molars. Methods. A crossover clinical trial was carried out whose sample consisted of 38 patients between 6-10 years who required bilateral pulp treatment in their first mandibular primary molars. At the first appointment, they received 2% lidocaine with 1:80000 alkalinized epinephrine administered at a fast rate, and at the second appointment, 2% lidocaine with 1:80000 non-alkalized epinephrine administered at a low speed. We evaluated the onset of action, duration of the anesthetic effect, and intensity of pain during its infiltration. Results. We found that non-alkalized lidocaine at slow speed had a shorter onset time of action (57.21±22.21 seconds) and longer duration of effect (170.82±43.75 minutes) compared to administration of alkalinized lidocaine at fast speed (74.03±22.09 seconds, 148.24±36.24 minutes, respectively). There was no difference in the level of pain intensity. Conclusion. In this study, the slow administration of the non-alkalized local anesthetic showed a shorter onset time of action and a longer duration of the anesthetic effect in comparison with the alkalized local anesthetic administered at a rapid rate in the blockade of the inferior alveolar nerve in deciduous molars.

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