Current Concepts in the Management of Postoperative Complications Following Oral Surgery

Oral surgery postoperative events can be expected and self-limited or include postoperative hemorrhage, surgical-site infection, alveolar osteitis, neurosensory injury, and impaired healing. Prevention and Management is dependent on the assessment of procedure complexity, medications and systemic disease, and anatomic risk, all on a patient-specific basis. A narrative review of the 10 publications related to tooth extraction and dentoalveolar surgery. It covers the most common complications of recognition and management and reviews interventions such as local hemostasis, selective antimicrobial prophylaxis, chlorhexidine, platelet-rich fibrin and coronectomy. Literature indicates that many uncomplicated cases should be treated with a local rather than systemic approach, and that there is a need to escalate treatment rapidly to the systemic level when there is bleeding, spreading infection or an ongoing sensory disturbance. There is highest level of evidence for extraction and third-molar surgery for the mandible, and transfer of evidence to other oral procedures should be done with caution