The Assessment of the Pattern of Impacted Mandibular Third Molars in Ardabil City Population

  Background & objectives: Third molar impaction (wisdom tooth) is a widespread phenomenon. It is indeed very important to study the impacted teeth pattern in the community since it will help to develop an appropriate treatment plan for individuals of the community. The aim of this study was to investigate the impaction pattern of mandibular third molar in Ardabil population. Methods: In this study, the panoramic radiography of 382 patients referred to the Ardabil Dental Clinic, ranging 18-40 years old that had a couple of third molar teeth were investigated. The radiographs were investigated to collect data corresponding to depth-of-impaction, the distance between the canal and inferior alveolar, number of roots, shape and connection between the roots as well as the damages to neighboring structure. The collected data were coded to be analyzed through Chi-square and t- test in SPSS software. Results: Among the cases, 42.4% and 57.6% of the subjects were male and female respectively. There is no significant difference between men and women for number of roots and the connection between them, whereas noticeable differences between men and women were observed for depth of impaction, distance from Inferior alveolar canal, the shape of the roots and damage to neighboring structures. Conclusion: The results suggest that most of the cases had vertical angulation, regarding depth of impaction, most of the teeth were categorized in Class-B, regarding distance from Inferior alveolar, and most of the cases were in the vicinity of the canal and had two separate canals. Regarding damage to neighboring structures, most of the cases were categorized as a radiographic bone loss