Evaluation of Drains versus no Drains in Minor Oral Surgery -An Original Research

Abstract

Introduction: The various minor oral surgical procedures performed are mostly related to the dental and the facial structures and the related trauma and infections.  Drains are used in majority of the minor surgical procedures where there may be a necessity to flush the area after surgeries. Hence in this study we intend to assess retrospectively the type of drain and length of hospital stay in patients who have endured minor oral surgical procedures.

Materials and Methods: The data was collected from the hospital charts, retrospectively categorizing patients who had minor oral surgical procedures, at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department between December 31, 2015- December 2020. The data was analyzed and organized as age, gender, days hospitalized, drain type, total drains used. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistics keeping p<0.05 as significant. 

Results: The total number of the patients included were 304. 59.5% were treated with non-irrigating drains. Others were treated using irrigating drain alone, or in combination with non-irrigating drains. The mean age was 34.6 years; 34.8% were female. The mean hospitalization was 5.70 days. The length of stay was effected by: area of infection and number of drains placed. The type of drain used did not significantly impact hospitalization.

Conclusion: We conclude that there was no relation between the drain used and the hospitalization.  We can propose that the days for the hospitalization are more related to the site and severity of infection.