Method: A prospective study was conducted to obtain postoperative data from 25 adults who underwent third molar surgery under ambulatory anesthesia. The primary endpoint was the incidence of nausea and/or vomiting after discharge from the clinic until the second postoperative day. Fisher’s exact test was performed to identify predictors for PDNV: female gender, history of motion sickness, opioid consumption, antibiotic usage and smoking status; a p < 0.05 was considered significant.
Result: Patient characteristics were: age 24.2+/-5.18 years, 44% females, 48% non-smokers, 32% current smokers, 16% former smokers, and 12% had a history of motion sickness. 16 patients completed the study. By 48 hours after discharge, 43.8% experienced nausea, 25% severe nausea. None of the predictors listed above were found to be significant predictors for PDNV (Table 1).
Table 1
Variables |
P-value (2 sided) |
Sex and nausea |
0.36 |
Smoking and nausea |
0.37 |
Motion sickness and nausea |
0.55 |
Antibiotic usage and nausea |
1.00 |
Oxycodone usage and nausea |
1.00 |
Conclusion: These preliminary results show the incidence of PDNV after third molar extraction. This is an ongoing study and the initial data did not show significant predictors.