Polyamide vs silk sutures in the healing of postextraction sockets: a split mouth study.

Objective: The aim of the present work is to compare polyamide sutures with traditional silk sutures after tooth extraction. Methods: The investigators implemented a split-mouth study, in 50 healthy patients undergoing dental extractions. Follow- up included one post-extraction checkup at 7 days for the suture removal. The outcome variables were the Healing Index, the socket area, postsurgical complications and outcome of a patient questionnaire. Pairs of correlated continuous variables were analyzed with the Wilcoxon test, independent continuous variables with the Mann-Whitney test, and categorical variables with the χ2 test or Fisher test. Results: From September 2015 to September 2016, 50 patients underwent contemporary bilateral extractions of homologous teeth. The treatment-versus-control postoperative comparison showed that polyamide sutures resulted in significantly smaller residual socket areas and better Healing Indices at day 7. The patients' questionnaire outcomes were unanimously in favor of polyamide sutures. Conclusions: The primary goals of this study were to measure socket reduction and the Healing Index (HI) at a 7 day postextraction checkup and to assess patients' satisfaction based on answers to a questionnaire. Based on the results here reported, the polyamide sutures performed better than the silk sutures.