Main

McGrath C, Comfort MB et al. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2003; 61: 759–763

This was a prospective study of QoL in 100 patients undergoing surgery to remove a single mandibular third molar. Patients completed 2 questionnaires (Oral Health Impact Profile-14, and UK Oral Health-related QoL measure) on the day of surgery and kept a recovery diary for 7 days. They were then followed up for 6 months. Twelve subjects dropped out of the study.

Both questionnaires indicated deterioration of QoL in the week after surgery, but by 1 month, there was an improvement which continued to 6 months. Around 20–30% of subjects experienced improvement in a wide range of QoL factors, such as comfort, halitosis, oral, individual and social activities. The authors make the point that these improvements were likely to be clinically significant, and the main effect was to reduce the burden of negative experiences associated with the teeth which were removed.