Abstract
BackgroundSeveral publications have measured the difficulty of third molar removal, trying to establish the main risk factors, however several important preoperative and intraoperative variables are overlooked.Material and MethodsA prospective cohort study comprising a total of 130 consecutive lower third molar extractions was performed. The outcome variables used to measure the difficulty of the extraction were operation time and a 100mm visual analogue scale filled by the surgeon at the end of the surgical procedure. The predictors were divided into 4 different groups (demographic, anatomic, radiographic and operative variables). A descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis of the data was performed.ResultsPatients’ weight, the presence of bulbous roots, the need to perform crown and root sectioning of the lower third molar and Pell and Gregory 123 classification significantly influenced both outcome variables (p< 0.05).ConclusionsCertain anatomical, radiological and operative variables appear to be important factors in the assessment of surgical difficulty in the extraction of lower third molars. Key words:Third molar, surgical extraction, surgical difficulty.
Highlights
Third molar removal is one of the most common procedures in Oral Surgery
A total of 130 patients with a mean age of 42 years-old and referred for extraction of a lower third molar were enrolled in the study
The average surgical difficulty of the procedures was of 25 mm on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), while the average extraction time was 10.4 minutes
Summary
Third molar removal is one of the most common procedures in Oral Surgery. Several publications have measured the difficulty of this surgical procedure, and most of them tried to establish the main risk factors [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. The modified Parant scale uses surgical technique parameters to assess the complexity of the procedure [11,12] These classifications have been widely used to determine third molar extraction difficulty, both of them overlook several important preoperative and intraoperative variables. The present study aims to determine which anatomic, demographic, radiographic and operative factors influence the surgical difficulty of lower third molar removal. Several publications have measured the difficulty of third molar removal, trying to establish the main risk factors, several important preoperative and intraoperative variables are overlooked. Conclusions: Certain anatomical, radiological and operative variables appear to be important factors in the assessment of surgical difficulty in the extraction of lower third molars
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