Third Molar Extraction and Pulsed Electromagnetic FieldTherapy

Study Summary

This study is a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled, clinical trial that evaluates the efficacy of using PEMF in the postoperative period in decreasing swelling and pain after extraction of impacted third molars. The study group will be comprised of subjects that will receive PEMF Actiband treatment for postoperative management of pain and edema. The control group will be comprised of the subjects that will receive a placebo patch as treatment for postoperative management of pain and edema. Thirty (30) subjects will be randomly assigned to each group. Enrollment will continue until 60 qualified subjects have been recruited. Eligibility criteria will be based on the standards for conducting oral surgery procedures on third molar extractions, in addition to safety considerations and contraindications for the Actiband and other agents to be used. Moreover, the selected subjects will have the same surgical difficulty and surgical trauma anticipated standardized by classification system of impacted third molars. All inclusion and exclusion criteria will be thoroughly explained in the relevant section of this proposal. Postoperative edema and pain will be evaluated using 3dMD and Visual Analog Scale, respectively. Different measurements will be obtained immediately before the surgery and in standard periodic intervals as described in the Materials and Methods section of the proposal. Any difference in postoperative edema, pain, and site responsible for request of rescue pain medication will be compared and analyzed between the two groups.

Primary Outcome

The primary outcome, postoperative facial swelling at 72 hours (as measured by the 3dMDTM), will be compared between the two groups using independent sample t-test if the data are normally distributed, or the Mann Whitney U test if non-parametric methods need to be utilized.

Interventions

• DEVICE Placebo
• DEVICE ActiPatch(TM)