Are female patients using oral contraceptives undergoing wisdom teeth removal at higher risk of dry socket?
An interesting article titled “A higher incidence of dry socket may be related to the use of oral contraceptives after impacted mandibular third-molar extraction” appears in the Oct. 2016 issue of JADA by Yumi Ogata and Yong Hur (Volume 147, Issue 10, pp. 840-842). The article discusses some of the issues surrounding whether in female patients undergoing impacted mandibular wisdom teeth removal, if the use of oral contraceptives increase the incidence of alveolar osteitis (also known as dry socket) when compared with female patients who do not use oral contraceptives. The researchers explore 3 electronic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Elsevier ScienceDirect) for relevant articles published up to April 2014. Two reviewers independently conducted quality assessments of the included studies by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and resolve any disagreements through consensus with a third reviewer. The authors included 12 articles that reported on … Read more