Awareness of the Complications from Impacted Third Molar Surgeries among General Dental Practitioners

Abstract

Introduction: Surgery of impacted third molars and the resultant complications are common occurrences in dental offices. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the awareness of general dental practitioners in Tabriz of complications of surgeries of impacted third molars. Materials and methods: In the present study a researcher-made questionnaire was completed by 186 randomly selected general dentists in Tabriz. After collecting the questionnaires and extractions of data, descriptive statistical methods and chi-squared test were used to evaluate the relationship between personal demographic variables (independent) and the dependent variable of the study with SPSS 14. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results: The mean ± standard deviation of the awareness of the subjects of complications of surgery of impacted third molars was 9.87±2.66, with minimum and maximum scores of 2 and 16, respectively. Of 186 dentists included in the study, 15 (8.1%) had low awareness, 152 (81.7%) had moderate awareness and 19 (10.2%) had high awareness. Chi-squared test showed no significant relationship between awareness and other variables (age, gender and job experience) (P>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results, the awareness of general dental practitioners in Tabriz of the complications of impacted third molar surgeries was at a moderate level. Key words: Awareness; general dental practitioner; impacted third molar; complications