Radiographic pathologies associated with third molar teeth in Polish population: A retrospective study
Article Category: Original article
Publié en ligne: 04 mars 2021
Pages: 175 - 182
Reçu: 03 mars 2020
Accepté: 28 sept. 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.7867
© 2021 Bartłomiej Górski et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Introduction
There is a plethora of pathologies that might be associated with the presence of third molar teeth (M3s). In the following study, the impact of M3s status on the occurrence of radiographic lesions of adjacent second molars (M2s) was evaluated.
Materials/Methods
A total of 1,988 panoramic radiographs were included in the statistical analysis. M3s were categorized as non-impacted (N-M3s) or impacted (I-M3s). I-M3s were subsequently divided into partially or completely impacted. Radiographic lesions in the second molars area, such as caries, external root resorption (ERR), and alveolar bone loss (ABL) were assessed. For the purpose of statistical analysis, the level of significance was set at 0.05.
Results
Among all evaluated panoramic radiographs, 1,621 (81.13%) showed at least one N-M3, 535 (26.78%) at least one partially I-M3, and 344 (17.2%) at least one completely I-M3. In the presence of M3s, the frequency of caries, ERR and ABL was determined at 17.98%, 0.68% and 23.96%, respectively, with the odds ratio (OR) for the occurrence of the above-mentioned pathologies at the level of 1.23, 6.97 and 1.31. Notably, the presence of N-M3s particularly increased the odds of caries, while I-M3s significantly increased the odds of ERR and ABR (ORs = 1.42; 26.0; 2.36, respectively).
Conclusions
The presence of M3s, irrespective of their impacted or non-impacted status, increases the risk of pathologies in M2s. Therefore, prophylactic extraction of M3s or active surveillance of patients could be recommended.