RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of sedation on postoperative pain and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing the extraction of wisdom teeth with mucosal retention under conscious sedation + local anesthesia versus local anesthesia alone. METHODS: The study included patients aged 18-78 years who presented to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department for the extraction of impacted mandibular wisdom teeth. Patients were divided into two groups based on the anesthetic technique used for the procedure: (i) local anesthesia (Control group, n=71) and (ii) Conscious sedation + local anesthesia (Experimental group, n=69). Postoperative pain was assessed using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Relationship between VAS scores and age groups was analyzed in both experimental and control groups. Patient satisfaction was assessed via face-to-face or telephone interviews 14 days after surgery in both groups. RESULTS: The VAS scores were significantly lower in the experimental group compared to the control group in all three measurements (p<0.05). A significant difference was found between the two groups with regard to their responses in the satisfaction questionnaire (p<0.0001), whereby 68.97% of the patients in the experimental group replied as "Absolutely yes". In the experimental group, the VAS scores were significantly higher in women than in men in the measurements performed on days 2, 7, and 14. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that the pain levels were lower in patients that underwent wisdom tooth extraction under conscious sedation with local anesthesia compared to patients that underwent local anesthesia alone.