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

Purpose: 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 be-tween information types, dental anxiety, and postoperative pain following mandibular M3 extraction.Methods: 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 extrac-tion 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 < .05.Results: Ninety patients referred for M3 extraction met the inclusion criteria, 45 patients in each group. The audiovisual group had significant increase in anxiety preoperatively measured by STAI-S (P = .002) and MDAS (P = .009) when compared with the verbal group. No significant differences in the STAI-S (P = .16) and MDAS (P = .216) scores were recorded at POD7. The progressive reduction in pain in both groups was not significant at POD7 (P = .746).Conclusions: Preoperative verbal information allayed anxiety compared to real life audiovisual informa-tion in M3 patients. These findings will provide a baseline reference data for subsequent research in our environment.(c) 2022 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeonsJ Oral Maxillofac Surg 81:329-336, 2023