Chlorhexidine’s Efficacy on the Alveolar Osteitis Incidence: a Systematic Review

Objectives: The review aimed to analyze the efficacy of chlorhexidine application on the incidence of alveolar osteitis after third molar surgery.
Methods: Articles published from PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, EBSCOhost and Science Direct between the year 2014 until 2021 were searched and identified. The keyword searched were third molar surgery, chlorhexidine and alveolar osteitis.
Results: From the search strategy, 179 articles were obtained; and only 15 articles were eligible for the study.
Conclusions: Based on the review, patients who were given chlorhexidine after third molar removal showed fewer alveolar osteitis as a post-operative complication. However, the efficacy of chlorhexidine for reducing the incidence of alveolar osteitis needs to be investigated further in the future.