PATTERN OF IMPACTED MANDIBULAR THIRD MOLARS IN A SAUDI POPULATION

Abstract

Objective of this study was to highlight the pattern of mandibular 3rd molar impaction in Al- Qurayyat Saudi population. Two thousand eight hundred and eighty-one patients who visited the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Oral Medicine of Al-Qurayyat Specialized Dental Center, Al-Qurayyat, Saudi Arabia, were included in the study. The study was conducted from year 2014 to 2016. A total of 1869 (64.87%) patients out of 2881 patients who visited the Specialized Center had either unilateral or bilateral impacted lower third molar. The number of female patients were significantly (p<0.005) higher than males. Mesioangular impaction was the most common presenta­tion [809/1869 (43.3%)]. Most common depth of the impaction was Level B [1271/1869 (68%)] and most common relation of the tooth with the ramus of the mandible was class II [1009/1869 (53.98%)]. Right side of the mandible was more commonly involved than the left [1032/1869 (55.22%)]. It can be concluded that the prevalence of mandibular third molar impaction was high in Al-Qurayyat, Saudi Arabia.