Does methylprednisolone improve postoperative outcomes after mandibular third molar surgery? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to investigate whether methylprednisolone (MP) administered via any route improves postoperative outcomes (pain, trismus, and oedema) following mandibular third molar surgery. An electronic search of the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Google Scholar databases was performed to identify studies published in English up until January 2018. A total of 28 studies were included in the review: 25 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and three controlled clinical trials. Studies were grouped according to the route of administration of MP for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Three studies were of ‘high’ quality and 22 were of ‘medium’ quality; three studies had a high risk of bias. Within the purview of the limitations of this review, the results showed that MP administered via any route significantly improves oedema in the early postoperative period, but has no effect on late postoperative oedema. Oral and intra-masseteric MP also seems to reduce pain and trismus in the early postoperative period. The results also indicate that oral MP may reduce late postoperative pain, while intra-masseteric MP may improve the late trismus outcome. More high quality RCTs are required to provide stronger evidence on the use of MP in third molar surgery.