Discussion
bleeding, psychological disability, social disability, swelling, physical disability, pain, Swelling, palate, bruising, ’ pain
BLEEDING, HAND INFECTION, POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS, PHYSICAL DISABILITY, COMPLICATION, REGRESSION, EVENTS, COMPLICATIONS
The present observational cohort study was performed to investigate the impact of different periodontal surgical treatments on patient quality of life by means of the OHIP-14 questionnaire.Other studies have shown that patients’ pain scores recorded on the day of surgery were significantly correlated with those reported at 24 h and at 1-week post-surgery [Our findings showed that the OHIP-14 score was very low 9.87±8.5 (range 0–42) in all patients who underwent periodontal surgery; thus, indicating that periodontal surgical treatment is well tolerated by patients and has a low influence on the quality of life.When the OHIP-14 scores were analyzed, physical pain, physical disability, and functional limitation were the most impaired subdomains at 7 days after surgery. Furthermore, three factors were found to be significantly correlated with higher OHIP-14 scores: flap extension, the application of the periodontal dressing, and gender (female sex).Flap extension of more than three teeth reported a mean score value of 11.8±8.78, impacting the overall postoperative pain. This finding is confirmed by previous studies [Use of a periodontal dressing was associated with significantly higher values of OHIP after stepwise logistic regression (In the present study, the female gender has been linked with higher scores of OHIP-14 in terms of functional limitation (Q1 and Q2), psychological discomfort (Q5 and Q6), physical disability (Q7 and Q8), psychological disability (Q9 and Q10), and social disability (Q11 and Q12). These findings are in contrast with data present in the literature [The overall incidence of post-surgical pain and infection is low following periodontal and implant surgery, and the intensity is mild for the majority of patients [While similar results have been observed in another study using both OHIP-14 and VAS pain scores to evaluate postoperative PROMs after periodontal surgery [Based on our findings, there appears to be a trend of lower PROMs regarding pain and postoperative discomfort after periodontal surgery. This could shed light on the evolution of the surgical techniques themselves, which have become less invasive throughout the years surely aided by the standardized use of magnification, and refinement of instruments, sutures, and dressing materials. In this regard, it is worth noting that in our study, there was no statistically significant difference between OHIP-14 and VAS scores of the three surgical modalities. This may also be a result of the aforementioned factors leading to a very similar postoperative course, even for mucogingival surgery which was once regarded as one of the most invasive periodontal surgical procedures.Post-surgical complications represent a matter of concern for both patients and clinicians, even if this is not always synonymous with bad wound healing. In the literature, the most reported complications after periodontal surgery are swelling, bleeding, bruising, eating, and speech discomfort. Swelling and bruising are normal post-surgical events that may occur the days after surgery, while bleeding is not a common complication, and it can happen especially after harvesting procedures from the palate [The known factors associated with postoperative discomfort, swelling, or bleeding, based on previous evidence, include but are not limited to, patient age [Even though more than half of the patients in this study reported postoperative complications (Table Regarding post-surgical discomfort, flap extension was the only variable related to eating limitations; while gender, number of teeth involved, and flap extension were the most determining factors influencing speech impairment.