Prevalence of Distal Carious Lesions in Mandibular Second Molars Due to Mesio-Angular Impacted Third Molars

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to observe the relationship of mesio-angular impacted third molars to the development of distal caries in adjacent second molars. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Nishtar Institute of Dentistry, Multan. Nine hundred and eighty nine periapical, bitewing and Panoramic radiographs were recorded and examined for distally carious second molars and impacted mandibular third molars. SPSS version 23.0 was used for data entry and analysis. RESULTS: Almost 40.8% of the target population reported with distal caries due to third molar impactions. A total of 53.30% of these impactions were of the mesio-angular variety. No distal caries was detected in transverse type of impactions. CONCLUSION: The current study concluded that the prevalence of distal caries in mandibular second molars and the positioning of adjacent impacted mandibular third molars in the dental arch were interlinked. Consequently, extraction of mandibular third molars should be considered to prevent caries and premature loss of second molar teeth. KEYWORDS: Distal caries, Impacted third molar, Infections, Risk Factor HOW TO CITE: Ashar T, Shakoor A, Ghazal S, Parveen N, Saleem MN, Raja HZ. Prevalence of distal carious lesions in mandibular second molars due to mesio-angular impacted third molars. J Pak Dent Assoc 2021;30(1):50-55.

Prevalence of Periodontal Disease and Caries Associated with Erupted Third Mandibular Molar

“…7 Premature extraction of 3 rd molar is considered as a treatment option to prevent before time loss of 2 nd molar. 18 This concept is also supported by numerous studies. In order to come up with accurate treatment, studies with prolong observation period and follow ups are required.…”

Frequency of Distal Caries of 2nd Molar with Mesio-Angular Impaction in Subset of Karachi Population

“…While in a similar Pakistani study conducted by Ashar et al reported that most of the participants were of 23 to 29 years (39.7%), followed by 17 to 22 years (33.08%). 15 Another Pakistani study by Rauf et al also reported the highest frequency of 3 rd molar impaction in the 2 nd and 3 rd decades of life and every few people were of age greater than 40 years 16 . This might be because of the increasing knowledge about early extraction of impacted 3 rd molars and oral health 16 .…”

“…In the current study, the commonest type of impaction was mesio-angular impaction which is similar to previous studies conducted among different ethnicity and populations 22,23 . Previous Pakistani studies also revealed that mesio-angular impaction was the most common type of impaction 15,24 . The prevalence of dental caries in the second molar adjacent to 3 rd molars has been estimated to be as less as 1% to 5% to as high as 15% to 51% in previous studies [5][6][7]15 .…”

“…In a study conducted by Srivastava et al 38% of the patients had distal caries among 2 nd mandibular molars 14 . According to Ashar et al prevalence of distal caries was observed to be 40.8% in the mandibular molar 2 nd molar caused by impacted third molars 15 . Another study conducted by Rauf et al revealed that mesio-angular impaction of the 3rd molar was the commonest impaction which caused distal caries in the neighboring 2 nd molars 16 .…”

“…Evidence suggests that removal of 3rd molars at an early stage can prevent distal caries in 2nd molars, halting tooth loss 15,16 . There is a paucity of information on its prevalence among Karachi residents.…”