A prospective clinical evaluation of the longevity of resorbable sutures in oral surgical procedures.

Introduction: The objectives of this prospective randomized study were to clinically evaluate the longevity of resorbable sutures (chromic catgut and vicryl) and determine the effect of chlorhexidine mouth wash on their absorption time in oral surgical procedures. Both sutures were of size 3/0 with round body needle and were placed using the standard technique.

Methods And Materials: One hundred patients selected for the study were divided into two groups of 50 patients each (vicryl and chromic catgut groups). Each group was subsequently subdivided into chlorhexidine (17 cases); warm saline mouth wash (17 cases) and warm water mouth wash (16 cases (control).

Results: The sutures were placed during various minor surgical procedures e.g. third molar surgery (65 cases), incisional biopsy (7 cases), excisional biopsy (8 cases), sutured lacerations (10 cases) and malar elevations through intraoral upper buccal sulci approach (8 cases) and 2 cases of cystic enucleations. The mean longevity of chromic catgut for chlorhexidine was 11.4 days with a range of 5-16 days. The patients, who used warm saline mouth wash, had a mean longevity of 11.7 days with a range of 7-24 days. The mean longevity of vicryl in patients that used chlorhexidine was 22.7 days, with a range of 14-36 days and that of warm saline mouth wash was 24.5 days with a range of 14-47 days.

Conclusion: The resorbable sutures investigated have a mean longevity, which was slightly shorter than the figure stated by the manufacturer. Chlorhexidine was found to have no appreciable effect on absorption time of the sutures.