Comparative Analysis of fast-and Slow-absorbable Poly(Lactose-co-glycolide) Sutures in Oral Surgery: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

March 30, 2026 updated by: Stefano Sivolella, University of Padova, School of Dental Medicine

This study aims to compare slow-resorbing and fast-resorbing sutures used after the surgical extraction of lower third molars. Sutures are routinely placed after wisdom tooth removal to promote hemostasis. Slow-resorbing and fast-resorbing sutures differ mainly in how long they remain in place, and fast-resorbing sutures often do not require removal. The study evaluates whether these two types of sutures differ in terms of microbiological contamination. Patient-reported inflammation, swelling, and postoperative discomfort will also be assessed.

Each participant will be randomly assigned to receive one of the two suture types. Only routine clinical procedures are involved. Participation includes several standard visits: initial medical and dental history collection with oral and radiographic examination; the surgical extraction of the lower third molar; suture removal at 7 days. No additional invasive procedures are required.

Participants will receive a daily diary to record pain levels and any pain medication taken during the first postoperative week. At the 7-day visit, wound healing will be evaluated and sutures will be removed, collected and anonymously analyzed by the University Microbiology Laboratory.

This study seeks to provide useful information about the clinical performance and microbiological behavior of different types of resorbable sutures commonly used in oral surgery, with the goal of improving patient care and postoperative outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study investigates the use of slow-resorbing versus fast-resorbing sutures following the surgical extraction of lower third molars. Sutures are routinely placed after wisdom tooth removal to promote hemostasis. Fast-resorbing sutures often do not require removal, while slow-resorbing sutures typically remain in place longer. The aim of the study is to compare the two types of sutures in terms of microbiological contamination. Patient-reported inflammation, swelling, and overall discomfort will also be assessed.

Each participant will be randomly assigned to receive one of the two suture types. Only routine oral surgery procedures are included, and no additional invasive or non-routine interventions are planned. Participation involves several standard visits: an initial screening visit with medical and dental history collection, oral examination, plaque and bleeding assessment, and radiographic review; the surgical extraction of the lower third molar; suture removal after 7 days.

On the day of the procedure, participants will receive a daily questionnaire to record pain levels and any analgesic medication taken during the first postoperative week. After surgery, standard antibiotic and anti-inflammatory therapy will be prescribed.

At the 7-day visit, sutures will be removed. The removed sutures will be collected and anonymously sent to the University Microbiology Laboratory (UniPD) for analysis and the participant's questionnaire will be retrieved.

Participants are expected to follow all postoperative instructions and attend all scheduled visits, which are essential both for proper clinical follow-up and for participation in the study. Any complications such as pain or bleeding must be promptly reported to the dentist. The overall goal of the study is to better understand the clinical and microbiological behavior of commonly used resorbable sutures in oral surgery, ultimately aiming to improve patient care and postoperative outcomes.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

27

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Italy
    • Padua
      • Padua, Padua, Italy, 35100

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • non smoker patients
  • clinical indication to third molar surgical removal
  • patients who are able to express informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • smokers
  • pregnant female
  • subjects treated with medications that affect bone metabolism

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Polysorb group
Standard absorbable sutures will be applied on these patients.
Device: Standard absorbable sutures application
Standard absorbable sutures application will be applied on control group
Experimental: Velosorb group
Fast absorbable sutures will be applied on these patients
Device: Fast absorbable sutures application
Fast absorbable sutures application on experimental group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Microbiological evaluation of the sutures
Time Frame: Evaluation will be conducted at the removal of the sutures (7 days after surgery)
After seven days, one operator will remove the sutures and immediately place them in a sterile, pre-weighed tube containing 1 ml of Brain Heart Infusion broth (BHI, Thermo Fisher, Waltham, USA), avoiding external contamination. Samples will be immediately transported to the microbiology laboratory, weighed, vortexed, and seeded on blood agar (BA), anaerobe blood agar (CDC), chocolate agar (CA), and Mitis salivarius agar (MSA), under anaerobic and aerobic conditions at 37°C for 24 hours. The bacterial load will be quantified as colony-forming units per millilitre (CFU/ml) and normalised by the weight of the sample.
Evaluation will be conducted at the removal of the sutures (7 days after surgery)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinician evaluation
Time Frame: Clinical evaluation will be collected at the removal of the sutures (7 days after surgery)
From the clinician's perspective, they will be required to report, on a VAS scale, the level of difficulty encountered during suture removal at 7 days post-surgery, which will be performed using sterile scissors and forceps. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is used with values ranging from 1 to 10, where 1 corresponds to the minimum value (minimal difficulty for the operator) and 10 corresponds to the maximum value (maximum difficulty for the operator), with 2-9 representing intermediate values.
Clinical evaluation will be collected at the removal of the sutures (7 days after surgery)
Patient reported outcomes
Time Frame: These parameters will be collected 7 days after surgery (at sutures removal)
From the patient's perspective, a VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) will be used to subjectively assess the discomfort during the 7 days in which the sutures remain in the mouth, as well as the pain associated with their removal after 7 days. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is used with values ranging from 1 to 10, where 1 corresponds to the minimum value (minimal discomfort for the patient) and 10 corresponds to the maximum value (maximum discomfort for the patient), with 2-9 representing intermediate values.
These parameters will be collected 7 days after surgery (at sutures removal)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Padova, School of Dental Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

  • R. Asher, T. Chacartchi, M. Tandlich, L. Shapira, and D. Polak, "Microbial accumulation on different suture materials following oral surgery: a randomized controlled study.," Clin. Oral Investig., vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 559-565, Feb. 2019.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 3, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 17, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 23, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 6, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 30, 2026

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AOP3206

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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