Assessment of Impaction Pattern of Mandibular Third Molars in an Iranian Subpopulation: a Retrospective Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Impacted teeth are teeth that cannot be indicated in their physiological position in the expected period. Impacted mandibular third molar (IMTM)is the most common tooth to be impacted. Impaction of the tooth may be accompanied by complications such as pain, swelling, caries, bone loss, and inferior alveolar canal pathology. Because of possible complications of the IMTMs,a surgical extraction may be necessary. Moreover, knowing the pattern of IMTMs can lower the possibility of complications after the surgery.This research aims to evaluate the impaction pattern of the IMTMs in the population of patients referring to the Dentistry faculty of the Guilan University of medical sciences clinic. Methods: In this retrospective analytic cross-sectional study 98 radiographs were gathered and the angulation, depth, and side of impactions, inferior alveolar canal pathology, and decay existence were evaluated. Then each factor was assessed based on age and gender. Analyzing data was done using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows, version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). Conclusion: Mesioangular pattern and level B of impaction depth were the most prevalent position of the IMTMs. Most cases had unilateral impaction and right-sided impaction was more frequent than left-sided.