Third molar extractions: a retrospective study of 1178 cases

ABSTRACT Objective: This study aims to investigate the demographics, patient health status, position of the teeth, pericoronitis incidence, surgical complications, use of antibiotics to third molar removal and correlate those findings. Methods: Based on panoramic radiographs, the teeth were classified as proposed by Pell and Gregory and Winter. The binomial test for proportions with a significance level of 5% was applied. Results: Records of 337 patients submitted 1178 third molar extractions in the period from 1993 to 2011 were reviewed. Most upper teeth were vertically positioned, (84.2%) (p<0.0001), class I (49.55%) (p<0.0001), position C (58.88%) (p<0.0001) and most inferiors were mesioangulated (42.03%) (p<0.0122), class II (60.22%) (p<0.0001), position A (48.15%) (p<0.0001). Complications occurred in 2.88% of the procedures (p<0.0006), mainly in women (69.7%) (p<0.0014) and more frequently in patients who did not receive antibiotics (71.43%) (p<0.0027). Complications were more frequent after extraction of inferior third molars (75.75%) (p<0.0001). The most common complication was alveolitis (52.51%) (p<0.0006). Conclusion: In this study, the complication rates were low. They were more frequent in women who did not receive antibiotics. The most common complication was alveolitis.