title: Impacted Mandibular Third Molars: A Retrospective Study of 1198 Cases to Assess Indications for Surgical Removal, and Correlation with Age, Sex and Type of Impaction-A Single Institutional Experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the incidence of mandibular third molar impaction in relation to type and side of impaction, age and sex of patients and indications for its surgical removal through data collected from a single institute over a period of 3 and half years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of 1198 patients who underwent the surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars were reviewed retrospectively. Records were divided into groups according to sex, age, type and side of impaction. Radiographs were studied to determine angular position of impacted mandible third molar.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that there was a high incidence of mesioangular lower third molar impaction (33.97 %), highest number of patients were found in 15-30 years of age group (48.33 %), a left side (56.93 %) was more commonly involved, female predominance (63.44 %) was observed and recurrent pericoronitis (33.81 %) was the most common indication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Awareness of the indications for surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar to the patients will help to avoid future risk of complications and morbidity associated with the same. This will not only help in saving time and money but also prevents the psychological trauma associated with delayed treatment. Removal of only symptomatic IMTM seems to be the logical choice in view of financial constraint in developing countries like India but at the same time early removal offers freedom from future complications in selected cases. So surgeons should apply a meticulous approach in selecting the patients for SRIMTM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, AMC-MET Dental College and Hospital, J-501, Sumadhur-2 Apartment, Behind Azad Society, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015 India.
authors.forename: Shital
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, AMC-MET Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, India.
authors.forename: Saloni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mansuri
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, AMC-MET Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, India.
authors.forename: Faizan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Surgery, AMC-MET Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, India.|University of North Texas School of Public Health, Denton, TX USA.
authors.forename: Taksh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shah
keywords: IMTM (impacted mandibular third molar); Impaction; Indication; Retrospective; SRIMTM (surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar)