Impact of Postoperative Instruction Delivery Methods on Patient Compliance After Minor Oral Surgeries: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: It has been demonstrated that giving precise postoperative instructions reduces the possibility of adverse events after surgery. Adherence to postoperative instructions during recovery is impacted by patient comprehension, which is influenced by the approach of instruction delivery. This systematic review’s main goal was to critically assess the available data regarding the association between the methods of introducing postoperative instructions and patients’ compliance after minor oral surgeries. Methods: In accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, a systematic review was conducted. Four databases (PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and Google Scholar) were thoroughly searched up to October 31, 2025. Covidence software was used by two independent reviewers to screen the material. The methodological quality and risk of bias in included studies were systematically assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool in Covidence. Ten studies were included: seven Randomized Controlled Trials, one cross-sectional, and two cohort studies. Results: Two studies reported a statistically significant positive association between phone call follow-up and adherence to postoperative instructions, showing that phone follow-up had higher scores of compliance level (9.7± 0.5 and 9.14± 0.78) compared to extended written instructions (7.9± 2.1) and to verbal and printed instructions combined (7.64± 0.83), respectively. Pictorial instructions or Android-based mobile applications were found to significantly improve patient compliance in two other research studies. Another study demonstrated that audiovisual (A-V) aids for postoperative instructions had a higher median comprehension score (12± 2) than the verbal (9.5± 3) and written (10± 2) methods. However, findings from three studies on verbal and written instructions were inconsistent. Conclusion: The use of enhancement techniques of postoperative instruction, such as multimedia, mobile applications, phone calls, and pictorial instructions, particularly when combined with baseline verbal explanations, demonstrated superior efficacy in enhancing patient comprehension, information retention, and compliance across diverse patient populations who had undergone minor oral surgeries. Keywords: compliance, surgical extraction, postoperative instructions, oral surgery, tooth extraction