Efficacy of Operculectomy in the Treatment of 145 Cases with Unerupted Second Molars: A Retrospective Case–Control Study

Abstract

<jats:p>The aim of this study is to assess whether operculectomy in patients with retained second molars eases spontaneous tooth eruption in respect to untreated controls. Two hundred and twenty-two patients with delayed eruption of at least one second molar were selected from the archives of the Department of Orthodontics, Milan, Italy. Eighty-eight patients, 40 males and 48 females (mean age 14.8 ± 1.3 years), met the inclusion criteria. Records were then divided into case and control groups. The case group consisted of patients that underwent removal of the overlaying mucosa over second molars (i.e., operculectomy) and the control group consisted of subjects who retained their operculum over an unerupted second molar and were followed for one year without performing any treatment. A total of 145 impacted second molars were considered (75 cases, 70 controls). A risk ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to compare the prevalence of eruption in the two groups. Spontaneous eruption occurred in 93.3% of cases in the operculectomy group (70/75), while in the control group, 10% teeth erupted spontaneously (7/70). Spontaneous eruption in the upper arch occurred in 95.2% of cases among treated patients (40 out of 42), while in the lower arch, spontaneous eruption occurred in 90.9% of cases (30 out of 33). Spontaneous eruption of the upper second molars in the control group occurred in 8.5% of cases (3 out of 35), while in the lower arch, it occurred in 8.5% (3 out of 35). Operculectomy can ease the spontaneous eruption of retained second molars and reduce the chances of inclusion.</jats:p>

Buccal Bone Changes Around First Permanent Molars and Second Primary Molars after Maxillary Expansion with a Low Compliance Ni–Ti Leaf Spring Expander

“…Another limitation of the current study was the difficulty in obtaining multiple CBCT of a subject to allow a better understanding of the alveolar bone thickness and height longitudinal changes over time. The continuous development of three-dimensional radiation-free techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will hopefully help with this particular problem in the future [24,[45][46][47][48]. Another main limitation of the present study was a relatively small sample (albeit sufficient for inferential statistics consideration), so the results of our study should be taken with caution.…”

Assessment of Parents’ Oral Health Literacy and Its Association with Caries Experience of Their Preschool Children

“…The OHL of parents can be improved with good oral health promotion, which should be carried out at the early preschool level of their children. The parents should educate their children at home, which has an influence on the behaviour and attitude of children, just as how a child learns language [ 33 , 37 ]. The government of Malaysia has been implementing various health promotion and health education programs in the oral health field, such as the National Oral Health Plan 2011–2020, which aims to decrease the prevalence of dental caries to less than 50% by the year 2020 among the Malaysian population [ 38 ].…”

Oral Status in Pregnant Women from Post-Industrial Areas of Upper Silesia in Reference to Occurrence of: Preterm Labors, Low Birth Weight and Type of Labor

“…Higher values of OHI-S during the first appointment were strictly connected (in authors opinion) to the calculus that was extensive. A statistically significant difference was observed in the CI values in the B1 group between the first and second appointment [25]. In a previous Indian study conducted in 300 pregnant women, Gupta et al showed that 40.7% of women had satisfactory oral hygiene, while 44% had bad oral hygiene; these were findings observed in women in the second and third month of pregnancy.…”