Riaz Khan, Noor-ul Amin, Saeed Ullah, Sadia Amin, Sabir Shah.
Lingual nerve injury in mandibular third molar extraction: a comparison of two surgical techniques.
Pak J Surg Jan ;37(2):119-22.

Objective: Injury to lingual nerve is a well- known perceived difficulty of surgical extraction of affected mandibular third molars. The reported incidence of this complication ranges from 1% to over 10%. In most of the cases, the nerve recuperates precipitously however lasting harm has been found in around 0.5% of the patients. Material and Methods: 120 patients were operated for third molar removal at Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar from 1st January 2018 till 1st January 2020. Only those patients were included in this study who clinically diagnosed as having impacted mandibular third molar. Patients with comorbid condition were excluded from the study. Patients were grouped in group A and B randomly, having 60-patients each. Patients in group-A were treated by reflection and retraction of lingual flap in addition to buccal flap while in group-B, procedure was performed by reflecting buccal flap only. Results: A total number of 120 patients with impacted mandibular third molars were included. The mean age was 27.33 years (SD+-5.11) ranging from 20-years to 40-years. There were 28(46.67%) males and 32(53.33%) females in group-A. In group-B, there were 17(28.33%) males and 43(71.67%) females. 11-patients, 9.17% showed damaged lingual nerve including 3(2.5%) males and 8(6.66%) females. Conclusion: The result shows that when flap is raised, there is high incidence of lingual nerve injury but the damage is temporary. Permanent damage occurs in lingual flap reflection and retraction.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com