An audit of impacted mandibular third molar surgery

Abstract

Background: Mandibular third molar impaction is a major oral health burden globally. The associated morbidity and increasing public awareness necessitate the need for more researches into the subject of third molar impaction.
Objective: To audit cases of third molar impaction and its management in our institution.
Methodology: We carried out a descriptive clinical study involving patients who presented for management of impacted third molar between January 2010 and December 2011. Demography of the patients including third molar spatial relationship, indications for surgery and pre- and post-operative visual analogue score for pain, were analysed.
Result: Demography of the patients revealed a mean age of 27.67±7.19 (range 19-56 years) and male to female ratio of 1:1.15. The most common indication for surgery was peri-coronitis, and the mesio-angular variety was the most common form of impaction in our series (46.5%, N=40). Analysis of mean pre-operative and post-operative pain perception with paired t-test revealed statistically significant difference (p=0.00 & 0.01, respectively). Only 14% of the patients developed post-operative infection.
Conclusion: Management of impacted mandibular third molar constitutes a sizeable workload of oral surgeons and dental practitioners globally. Early surgery for symptomatic impacted third molar tooth is hereby advocated.