Comparison of the recurrence rate of different surgical techniques for oral mucocele: A systematic review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: There are different surgical techniques to remove Oral mucoceles, including conventional surgery with scalpel, removal of the lesion with CO2 laser, and micro marsupialization. The present systematic review was conducted with the aim of comparing the recurrence rate of different surgical techniques for treatment of the oral mucoceles. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An electronic search for randomized controlled trials published in English until September 2022 related to different surgical methods for the treatment of oral mucocele was performed in Medline/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase and Cochrane databases. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to compare the recurrence rate of different techniques. RESULTS: Among 1204 papers initially identified, after the removal of duplicate articles and screening of the titles and abstracts, fourteen full-text articles were reviewed. Seven articles comparing the recurrence rate of oral mucocele in different surgical techniques were found. Seven studies were included in qualitative studies, and five articles were included in the meta-analysis. The risk of mucocele recurrence in the micro-marsupialization technique was 1.30 times that of the surgical excision with scalpel technique, which was not statistically significant. The risk of mucocele recurrence in the CO2 Laser Vaporization technique was 0.60 times that of the Surgical Excision with Scalpel technique, which was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this systematic review showed that there is no significant difference between the recurrence rate of surgical excision, CO2 laser and marsupialization techniques for the treatment of oral mucoceles. Although more randomized clinical trials are needed for definitive results. Key words:Mucocele, lasers, gas, recurrence, meta-analysis.