Do Using Dental Elevators Increase the Chance of Complications in Undergraduate Exodontia Clinic?

Objective: To evaluate if using dental elevators increase the chances of immediate intraoperative complications (IOC) in undergraduate exodontia clinic. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted to evaluate the patients enrolled randomly into the 6th year exodontia clinic at the Faculty of Dentistry Health center in King Abdulaziz University (KAUFD) from the period of October to December 2017. A total of 330 cases were recorded at that period, aged from 23-71 years old, and the IOC that took place during the dental extractions were recorded and managed immediately. The pertinent information was collected and all the data obtained were tabulated and statistically analyzed using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient / 2-Tailed test at the SPSS statistical software. Results: The incidence of IOC was found to be low, that represented 29 cases (8.8%) out of the 330, and all of them were in the form of minor incidents that were managed immediately. Although the incident sample was small, it was found that using forceps for dental extraction lead to significantly higher complication rate than using the elevators (P< 0.001 and a Correlation of 0.813). Among the complications, gingival laceration (16 cases) were found to be the most to occur using both instruments and was found at the maxillary posterior region to be significantly higher than other complications recorded (P<0.001, and a correlation of 0.933). Conclusion: The IOC rate at KAUFD undergraduate exodontia clinic is considered very low and minor in nature that were all managed conservatively in the office. The fear of using dental elevators is proven in our study to be a myth while a special care should be taken while extracting maxillary posterior teeth, is worthier. The compromised visibility and accessibility do contribute to the findings and hence the higher chances of minor gingival laceration to take place