Ritesh Gupta, Mamta Sharma, Satvinder Singh

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of impacted mandibular third molars in different skeletal facial types. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 subjects were selected in this study. Lateral cephalometric radiographs and orthopantographs (OPG) were used in this study for determining anatomical locations. Pell and Gregory classification theory was used for evaluating degree of impaction of mandibular third molars. Winter's classification method calculated angulation of mandibular impacted third molar classified as mesioangular, distoangular, vertical, horizontal and buccolingual. Facial axis angle measurement was calculated by Dimaxis computer system. The p value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant. Results: The impaction rate of mandibular 3rd molars was 52% and mostly the impacted teeth were seen in mesioangular position (49.3%) followed by distoangular (22.7%) and vertical (20.2%). A significant difference between the percentage of impacted third molars within the brachyfacial, dolichofacial and mesofacial subjects (p=0.009). Conclusion: In almost all the cases, the mesioangular impaction was commonly noticed and further a significant difference was seen in relation to different types of facial skeletals.