Online ISSN: 2515-8260

PREVALENCE OF IMPACTED TEETH AMONG DENTAL PATIENTS - AN INSTITUTIONAL STUDY

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Nurul Husniyah binti Che Soh1 , Santhosh Kumar M P2 , Arthi B3

Abstract

Dental impaction is a common problem presented by patients when seeking dental treatment. It can be described as a tooth that fails to erupt into the dental arch within an expected period of time, either partially or completely impacted. The reasons for impaction can be due to inadequate arch length and space available for eruption, excessive soft tissues or genetic abnormality. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of impacted teeth among dental patients. This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the patient records from a dental hospital from June 2019 until March 2020. Data regarding patients having impacted teeth were retrieved after analyzing 86000 case sheets. Radiographs and intraoral photographs were used to assess the patterns of impacted teeth. 785 patients diagnosed with impacted teeth were selected and evaluated for its prevalence based on age and gender. Excel tabulation and SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. The statistical tests used for the demographics was frequency, percentage and for tests of association between categorical variables was Chi-square test. P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Impacted teeth were predominantly present in males (57.5%) than in females (42.6%) among the dental patients. Mandibular left third molars showed the highest frequency of occurrence (45.7%) followed by mandibular right third molars (39.2%). Impacted teeth were predominantly present in the age group of 21-30 years (54.14%) followed by the age group of 31-40 years (23.69%) among the dental patients. Association between age and impacted third molars was statistically significant. [p value=0.003(<0.05)]. However the association between gender and impacted third molars was statistically not significant. [p value=0.136(>0.05)]. Within the limits of this study, it can be concluded that impacted teeth among dental patients were predominantly seen in the age group of 21-30 years with male predilection. Prevalence of mandibular third molar impactions was high with the left mandibular third molar being the most common impacted tooth in our study population.

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