Antibacterial Effect and Soft Tissue Healing of Chlorhexidine-Coated Polyglactin 910 Sutures After Impacted Lower Third Molar Surgery

Surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars is a common oral surgery procedurethat carries a risk of postoperative complications such as wound infection, delayedhealing, pain, and swelling. Sutures used to close the extraction site can act as asurface for bacterial adhesion from the oral cavity, which may increase the risk ofinfection at the wound.Antibacterial‐coated sutures have been developed to reduce bacterial colonization andsupport wound healing. While triclosan‐coated sutures have been widely studied, there islimited direct evidence on Polyglactin 910 sutures coated with chlorhexidine diacetate(CHX‐DA), particularly in oral surgery. Existing local studies have mostly focused onchlorhexidine solutions or gels for postoperative care rather than on the suture materialitself.This trial uses a split‐mouth design, in which each participant receives both suturetypes at two symmetrical extraction sites, allowing a within‐patient comparison thatreduces the influence of individual differences. Bacterial load is measured from gingivalcrevicular fluid collected at the wound site using sterile autoclaved paper cones andquantified by viability real‐time PCR (vPCR) for a panel of oral bacterial species. Softtissue healing is evaluated using the IPR healing scale. Assessments are performed ondays 3, 5, and 7 after surgery.