Effect of tinidazole on postoperative complications after surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars

Treatment of osteitis after surgical removal of the third molar of the mandible is still a clinical problem. Forty patients undergoing operations for removal of an impacted third molar of the mandible, were included in a double-blind study. Tinidazole or placebo were given to the patients pre-operatively and for the following seven days. The concentrations of tinidazole in plasma, alveolar plasma and saliva were measured and the postoperative courses-pain, trismus, swelling and wound-healing-were recorded. The 20 patients in the tinidazole group responded significantly better with respect to wound healing than the 20 patients in the placebo group. The tinidazole group experienced significantly reduced pain on day 7 post-operatively, and also showed a marked effect reduction in the occurrence of swelling, although it was not statistically significant from the placebo group. Tinidazole can be of value to reduce the rate of infections after complicated oral operations on patients especially susceptible to infections.