title: Honey and wound dehiscence: a study of surgical wounds in the mandibular bed.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a paucity of literature on the use of honey in wound healing after oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of the healing properties of Obudu honey in patients who developed wound dehiscence after segmental mandibular resections.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study of 72 patients who had benign lesions of the mandible, and were treated by segmental mandibular resection, with the surgical wounds developing dehiscence. The subjects were randomized into two treatment groups of A (control, n = 36) and B (experimental, n = 36). Unlike the control, the wounds in the experimental group were dressed in honey after debridement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ages of the patients ranged from 21 to 73 years with a mean age of 46.3 ± 2.1 years while the male: female ratio was 3:1. There was no significant demographic difference about age ( P = 0.44) and gender (P = 0.38) between the two groups. The smaller the initial circumference of the surgical wound, the shorter the duration of healing and this was significant (P = 0.001) in either of the treatment groups. Numerically, more healing was completed in the first 5 weeks in subjects in the experimental group (n = 19, 52.8%) than the control (n = 13, 36.1%). However, the duration of healing between the subjects in the control and experimental groups at the end of 9 weeks showed no significant difference (P = 0.23).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Honey speeds up the healing of dehiscence wounds of resected mandible when used as dressing more than the control.
authors: Department of Dental Surgery, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.
authors: C E
authors: CE
authors: Anyanechi
authors: B D
authors: BD
authors: Saheeb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001458:Bandages; D003646:Debridement / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006722:Honey; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013529:Surgical Wound Dehiscence / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing; D055815:Young Adult