Gender Variation in Pattern of Mandibular Third Molar Impaction

Abstract

A tooth is said to be impacted when it is obstructed on its path of eruption with the most commonly impacted tooth being the third molar. Various factors have been reported to cause obstruction in the path of eruption of the third molar and these include adjacent tooth, bone as well as soft tissue. Lack of space in the dental arch for the third molar to emerge as well as pathological lesions, stunted growth of tooth germ following nutritional deficiency, irradiation and physical trauma have been implicated in the etiology of third molar impaction [1]. There are varying reports regarding the prevalence of impacted third molars. Impacted third molars are more likely to occur in the mandible than in the maxilla [2,3].However, studies have consistently shown that mesioangular impaction is the most common angulations of impaction of mandibular third molars [1,2,4-6]. A few studies [4,6-8] tried to determine if there are any gender variations in mandibular third molar impaction with varying reports about the association of gender with third molar impaction. Previous studies [2,4] reported no statistically significant difference between gender and mandibular third molar impaction while another study [9] reported significant association between gender and number of impacted teeth as well as the presence of impacted mandibular teeth. With the varying reports regarding the association of gender to third molar impaction, this study was designed to determine the gender variation in mandibular third molar impaction among a group of Nigerian dental patients.