Role of Serratiopeptidase and Dexamethasone in the Control of Postoperative Swelling

The present study is designed to evaluate and compare the ability of serratiopeptidase and dexamethasone to control edema following the surgical removal of mandibular third molar.

Two drugs, dexamethasone and serratiopeptidase, were compared for its efficacy in reducing the postoperative swelling. A total of 100 patients requiring the surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar were randomly divided into two groups, consisting of 50 patients each. One group was administered 1 mg dexamethasone, one-half h preoperatively and every 8^th hourly for 3 days postoperatively. The other group was given 10 mg serratiopeptidase every 8^th hourly for 3 days postoperatively. The swelling was measured on 1^st, 2^nd, 5^th, and 7^th postoperative days. The results of this study showed that serratiopeptidase was effective in reducing swelling from 2^nd to 5^th postoperative day, and dexamethasone was effective in reducing swelling from 1^st to 2^nd postoperative day, further, it also reduced the swelling from 2^nd to 5^th postoperative day.

There was highly significant difference in the facial measurement between serratiopeptidase and dexamethasone group on postoperative day 2 (the mean difference was 62.5 with P < 0.001) and statistically significant difference on postoperative day 1, day 5, and day 7 (P < 0.01).

It can be concluded that serratiopeptidase, a proteolytic enzyme and dexamethasone, a long-acting corticosteroid was effective in reducing the swelling, but dexamethasone was more effective than serratiopeptidase in reducing the swelling.