Hemorrhage after oral surgery: An analysis of 103 cases

Abstract

Etiology, predisposing factors, clinical features, and prophylactic measures for hemorrhage after oral surgery are discussed on the basis of a review of the literature and an evaluation of 103 cases. In the material studied, in which the largest number of patients were from 16 to 30 years of age, there were strikingly more male patients than female patients. A predominant site of bleeding was the lower third molar region; after periodontal surgery, however, hemorrhages from maxillary regions were more frequent than those of mandibular origin. A statistically significant high frequency of earlier postsurgical bleeding episodes suggests that certain oral surgery patients do have a tendency to postoperative hemorrhage without displaying hematologic values characteristic of any known hemorrhagic diathesis. In the remaining cases, the bleeding was believed to be of local origin, a high frequency of occurrence of mucosal lacerations calling for special attention. Therapeutically, the techniques described yielded a stable hemostasis in at least 84 per cent of the cases.