Objectives To appraise the effectiveness of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) in the management of established dry socket in terms of pain, inflammation, and wound healing. Materials and Methods Two hundred patients with established alveolar osteitis were studied to determine the efficacy of PRF and zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE) for pain control, inflammation reduction, and wound healing. Patients were randomly allocated to Group A (PRF) or Group B (ZOE). Patients were examined on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 14th postoperative day and evaluated for pain using visual analogue scale scores, inflammation with a gingival index score, and wound healing through a determination of the number of bony walls exposed. Results Group A showed better results in terms of pain remission, control of inflammation, and wound healing compared to Group B. Results between groups were statistically significant ( P <0.05). Conclusion PRF is a better alternative than ZOE for the effective management of alveolar osteitis.

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Objective: Local anesthetics are the most effective drugs available for the management of pain while performing operative procedures. This study was performed to compare the clinical efficacy of treatment with local anesthetic articaine (4%) with ketamine and local anesthetic articaine alone (4%) for the relief or prevention of postoperative pain, swelling, and trismus after the surgical extraction of impacted mesioangular third molars. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients undergoing the extraction of impacted mesioangular mandibular third molars were included in the study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: local anesthetic alone (LAA) and local anesthetic plus ketamine (LAK). Results: Facial swelling following surgery on postoperative days was significantly lower in the LAK group than in the LAA group on 3 rd and 7 th postoperative days ( P < 0.05). Mouth opening on the postoperative days was significantly greater in the LAK group than in the LAA group on 3 rd and 7 th postoperative days ( P < 0.05). The pain scores on the visual analog scale at 30 min and 1 h, 4 h, 12 h, and 24 h after the surgery were significantly higher in the LAA group than in the LAK group and there was no significant difference in heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure in both the groups. Conclusion: In this present study, the effect of articaine with ketamine in comparison with articaine alone intraoperatively and postoperatively was observed, and it revealed that the combination of articaine with ketamine produced good local anesthesia and provide good postoperative analgesia with less swelling and significantly less trismus.

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Background: Taste perception is an important factor in sustaining human life. Impairment of taste is one of the important features of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), and it has not received much attention, owing to limited research work in the field. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine taste alteration in OSMF patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 participants, both males and females with the age range of 20 years to 55 years, were included in the study. Four basic tastants (i.e., sweet, salt, sour, and bitter) were prepared as follows: sucrose for sweet (0.1–1.0 mol/l), sodium chloride for salty (0.01–1.0 mol/l), citric acid for sour (0.320–0.032 mol/l), and quinine sulfate for bitter (0.01–1.0 mol/l) and full mouth rinse test was performed for a complete taste response examination, after which punch biopsy was taken from buccal mucosa to determine histopathological staging. The data obtained were tabulated and analyzed by the Pearson Chi-square test; P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The overall results suggested that there was a significant alteration of taste. The sweet taste was altered followed by salty and bitter was least affected. Conclusion: The study points out at the significance of alteration in taste perception is OSMF patients related to sweet, salt, sour, and bitter taste by using physiological stimuli tastants.