Effects of platelet‐rich fibrin on post‐extraction wound healing and wound pain: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effect of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) on post-extraction wound healing and pain, with a view to providing a reliable basis for the selection of treatment options in clinical practice. A computerised search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang databases for studies on the effect of PRF on post-extraction wound healing and pain compared with natural healing (control group) was performed from the time of creation of the respective databases to July 2023. Literature screening, data extraction and quality assessment were done independently by two authors. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Fourteen studies with a total of 508 patients were finally included. Meta-analysis showed that the use of PRF relieved patients' wound pain (standardised mean differences [SMDs]: −1.78, 95% confidence intervals [CIs]: −2.61 to −0.94, p < 0.001), promoted soft tissue healing of extraction wounds (SMD: 1.09, 95% CIs: 0.26–1.91, p = 0.010) and also reduced the incidence of alveolar osteitis (AO) in patients after tooth extraction (2.42% vs. 10.14%, odds ratio: 0.27, 95% CIs: 0.11–0.65, p = 0.004). Current clinical evidence suggests that the use of PRFs can reduce patients' postoperative wound pain, promote soft tissue healing of extraction wounds and reduce the incidence of postoperative AO compared with natural healing. However, due to limitations in the number and quality of studies, large-scale randomised controlled trials are still needed to validate the results of this study in the future.