What’s new for the clinician – summaries of recently published papers (May 2024)

Abstract

Extraction of impacted mandibular third molars is often associated with several postoperative complications such as bleeding, pain, swelling, trismus, nerve injury and alveolar osteitis.1 Additionally, alveolar bone defect distal to the second molar is a common sequela after impacted third molar extraction.1 The causes of such sequelae are presumed to be due to pericoronitis, difficulty of operation, duration of surgical procedure, peri-operative infection and so on. Besides adopting a minimally invasive surgical procedure and
conscientious peri-operative care, other strategies have been utilised to minimise the risk of complications and limit their intensity, such as drug therapies, laser treatment and blood concentrates which have been shown to decrease inflammatory signs and symptoms after mandibular third molar surgery.1 Growth factors are considered as the best tissue regenerative stimulus, which have been clinically proven to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration.1 Platelets are one of the major resources of autologous
growth factors. Platelet concentrate (PC) products have developed from platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and platelet-rich fibrin (PRF), to the third autologous generation-concentrated growth factor (CGF).1 It is a biomaterial providing a sustained release of various growth factors, including transforming growth factor β-1(TGF β-1), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In addition, several pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines can also be produced by CGF, such as tumour necrosis
factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 4 (IL-4), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1 β (IL-1β).