Naveed Khawaja, Dhafer Al Asmari, Nabeeh Al Qahtani, Mohd Al Mashyakhy.
A survey of radiographic position of impacted third molars among patients attending a university oral surgery clinic.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;17(1):26-30.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the position of impacted third molars in panaromic radiographic view among patients attending Oromaxillofacial Surgery (OS) Clinics of King Saud University College of Dentistry (KSUCD) for extraction; through measuring angulation in relation to long axis of second molars and following the Pell & Gregory9 classifications (Class I, II, III; Position A, B, C). Furthermore, the study also evaluated the relation of mandibular third molar (M3) to inferior alveolar nerve and, maxillary M3 to the maxillary sinus. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Among 623 patients visited OS clinic for third molars extraction during past two years, 400 cases were randomly selected having panoramic rardiographs/orthopantomographs (OPG) in the files. RESULTS: The patient`s age were between 14 - 60 years with a mean age of 23 years. Amonsgt the selected patients, 178 (44.5%) were male while 220 (55.5%) were female; 327 were Saudis (81.75%) whereas 73 (18.25%) were non-Saudi. The most common angulation was vertical (n = 1027; 72.53%) as compared to mesioangular (n = 233; 16.45%), distoangular (n = 117; 8.25%), & horizontal (n =39; 2.75%). According to the classification used, the most common depth-wise position was position A (n = 738; 52.12%), then Position B (n = 498; 35.17%) and Position C (n = 180; 12.71%); while space-wise, Class I (n = 390; 55.25%) was more evident than Class II (n = 370; 43.41%) and Class III (n = 8; 1.14%). Results showed that vertical position of third molar was more prevalent than mesioangular which in turn was more prevalent than horizontal. Most cases of impaction mandibular third molars were less than 2 mm distance from inferior alveolar nerve. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, OPG view showed most impacted third molars have vertical position as compared to mesioangular or distoangular position.

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