Can amino-acids dietary supplements assumption improve the wisdom post-extraction course?

Objectives: The aim of this double-blind study was to compare the post-surgical course in patients submitted to the mandibular wisdom-teeth extractions whether they have assumed for one week before and one week after the surgery a dietary supplement, composed by a mixture of essential amino-acids, or not. Methods: 10 healthy patients, candidate to the extraction of both mandibular completely included wisdom-teeth, were randomly splited split into in two groups: control group followed the usual post-surgical protocol (amoxicillin, dexamethasone, ice and rest), whereas test group was administered also 8gr/die of amino-acids supplement (Aminotrofic-ErreKappa-Milano). The first tooth to be extracted was chosen randomly at the moment of the surgery. One month after the two groups where crossed and the controlateral wisdom tooth was extracted by the same surgeon. To evaluate the post-surgical course we considered: •Swelling: score 2 if present and externally visible, score 1 if present but only intraoral, score 0 if absent •Pain: scale VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) from 0 to 10 •Trismus: score 0 if the distance between the upper and lower incisor-edge in maximum opening before and after surgery is unchanged, score 1 if the distance's decreased but was still greater than 50% of pre-operative's, score 2 if lower than 50% of pre-operative's. These indexes were daily-recorded during the first week after the surgery and afterthat statistically analysed (t-Student's test, P<0.05). Results: There was no statistically-significant difference between the two groups, even if the control mean indexes were higher than the test ones: swallowing swelling (1.24±0.4 face to 1.07±0.39, P=0.346), pain (3.47±1.25 face to 2.83±1.47, P=0.305) and trismus (1.16±0.54 face to 0.8±0.34, P=0.097). Conclusion: These preliminary data suggests that a booster dose of amino-acids couldn't be useful in reducing patient discomfort after the surgery, but a larger sample is necessary in order to have a stronger evidence.