Introduction: Third molars are the last teeth to erupt through the oral cavity and in some cases they are congenitally missing, display impaction or remain included. There are many reasons for their removal: decay, lack of space in the dental arch or problems during its eruption. During surgical extraction, oral tissues may be injured, which causes painful symptoms and edema. To combat these surgical complications, it is necessary the use of drugs that fight inflammation, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) and corticosteroids. To obtain best results, the combination of NSAIDs and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used in patients, either as preemptive medication and as postoperative medication. Objective: Performing a literature review in order to determine which drug classes have better postoperative outcomes for pain and swelling in of third molars extraction. Materials and methods: Studies present in SciELO, Lilacs and Pubmed databases published between 2000-2014 were included. Final considerations: Corticosteroids are used preemptively in order to reduce swelling frame, while NSAIDs have greater use in the postoperative period, in an attempt to reduce the pain.