Abstract
Surgical removal of third molars (3M) is a routine, low risk procedure. Common post-surgical symptoms are typically swelling, pain and trismus. Kinesiology Taping (KT) is a relatively new treatment option in musculoskeletal pathologies and some of the hypotheses of KT is that it reduces pain, oedema and increases blood flow; however current evidence does not support its use. Patient A underwent a routine removal of 3 third molars via general anaesthetic. A post-surgical lymphatic drainage KT application was applied to the patient’s lower mandible and masseter region. Results showed a significant reduction in pain, swelling and trismus was also reduced. The post op recovery time was decreased from the post op material of 10 days to 5 days; therefore suggesting that KT is potentially an effective treatment following surgical removal of wisdom teeth.
Highlights
Removal of third molars (3M) is a routine procedure that is performed daily within dentistry [1,2] affecting over 75,000 patients in the UK per year [3] and up to 5 million in the United States [2]
There are a number of approaches including advances in dentistry surgical tools, analgesics and hands on techniques which aim to reduce the post-operative morbidity, oedema and trismus, with no significant difference
Kinesio Tex GoldTM (KTG) followed the lymphatic and circulatory protocols devised by Kase [4,10] using 10% tension, directed to the supraclavicular nodes and gently rubbed to activate the adhesive and remained on Patient A for 5 days
Summary
Removal of third molars (3M) is a routine procedure that is performed daily within dentistry [1,2] affecting over 75,000 patients in the UK per year [3] and up to 5 million in the United States [2]. There are a number of approaches including advances in dentistry surgical tools, analgesics and hands on techniques which aim to reduce the post-operative morbidity, oedema and trismus, with no significant difference. Subsequent scientific research states that KT can improve blood flow and lymphatic drainage by removing lymphatic fluid and haemorrhages [10] not all current evidence supports its use and far there have been no high quality studies to outline its physiological effects.
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