Kaleem Ullah, Muhammad Jamal, Saif Ullah, Omer Bashir, Mehwish Pasha.
Comparison of two surgical techniques for the removal of partially impacted mandibular third molars.
J Saidu Med Col Jan ;7(1):52-7.

BACKGROUND: Impacted teeth remain unerupted or partially erupted due to lack of space, obstruction or other factors. Surgical removal of mandibular third molars require elevation of mucoperiosteal flap and ostectomy of the bone. Attempt has been made to extract the partially impacted mandibular third molar without the use of flap elevation and ostectomy of bone. OBJECTIVE: To compare the two surgical techniques for the removal of partially impacted mandibular third molarnamely with or without a buccal flap, in terms of mean postoperative pain and swelling score MATERIAL AND METHODS: Study was conducted on 150 patients after getting proper prior permission from hospital ethical committee. Demographic information and history were obtained. Patients were examined for partially impacted mandibular third molar. Patients were randomly divided into two groups to compare the outcome of the two procedures. RESULTS: A total of 150 patients were divided in two equal groups, managed by with flap and without flap. Gender distribution among the groups was insignificant with p-value=0. 502. The overall average age of the patients was 31.39 years+ 9.93. The age distribution among the group was also insignificant with p-value 0. 491. Pain was significantly less in flapless procedure with pvalue= 0.005. Swelling was also significantly less in the flapless procedure with p-value=0. 003. CONCLUSION: We found that flapless procedure is a safe and effective method with less swelling and pain as compared to with flap procedure. KEY WORDS: Buccal flap, impacted mandibular, third molar, pain, swelling.

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