Efficacy of platelet rich plasma (PRP) in third molar impaction surgery

The use of autologous platelet concentrates mainly platelet rich plasma has been of relevance recently in the field of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery. These concentrates had the ability to improve the hard and soft tissue healing.This ability of the platelet concentrates had been studied in the healing after mandibular third molar impaction surgery. The various parameters like bone density,soft tissue healing, post operative pain,swelling and alveolar osteitis were taken into account. The patients were evaluated on day 1,day 2,day 3,day 7, first month and second month post operatively. The values for each parameters were found out and tabulated. Materials and methods:12 patients , 7 males and 5 females with bilaterally impacted mandibular third molars were included in the study. Autologous platelets were concentrated.This was applied on one of the sockets which was randomly taken as the test side. The other socket was treated as the control. Results: Statistical analysis was done using Mann Whitney U test for pain and soft tissue healing, which revealed the values for pain being statistically significant for the test side and no statistical difference was noted for soft tissue healing. Bone density and swelling were analysed with T-test . Bone density values were statistically significant for the test side, while swelling did not show much statistical significance. None of the patients presented with alveolar osteitis in any side. Summary and conclusion: platelet rich plasma is a surgical additive that can be used to improve bone and soft tissue healing. It contains a wide array of growth factors that are responsible for their healing potential