INTRODUCTION: The healing process of tooth extraction is desired to take place faster to restore the normal tissue. Physical exercise is proven to accelerate wound healing through various physiological mechanisms. Aerobic exercise increases oxygen perfusion which leads to wound healing process. On the other hand, anaerobic exercise stimulates reactive oxygen species and may interfere with the wound healing process.

OBJECTIVE: To observe if there are differences in the effectiveness of wound healing after tooth extraction based on the number of fibroblast and neovascularization in Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) that performed interval aerobic or anaerobic exercise.

METHODS: Rats were divided into 3 groups, a control group and two treatment groups which performed the aerobic physical exercise or the anaerobic physical exercise. Fibroblast and neovascularization were calculated 7 days after the tooth extraction. Data were analyzed using Krusskal-Wallis statistical tests.

RESULTS: The aerobic exercise group showed the higher number of fibroblasts and neovascularization compared to anaerobic exercise group, while the control group showed the lowest number of fibroblast and neovascularization.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that aerobic physical exercise accelerates wound healing in the proliferation phase better than anaerobic exercise and no exercise.