Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: In impacted third molar surgery, panoramic radiography is a preliminary technique for assessing the consequences associated with inferior alveolar nerve injury. However, this technique cannot provide enough information to determine the true risk in all cases. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of panoramic and CBCT radiographs in evaluating the relationship between the mandibular impacted third molars and the inferior alveolar nerve.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the relationship between mandibular third molar and inferior alveolar nerve in 15 patients referred to the oral and maxillofacial radiology department of Birjand dental school including 20 mandibular third molars were evaluated using two panoramic and CBCT radiographs. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test and sensitivity analysis in SPSS22.
Results: In the evaluation of the teeth using panoramic radiography, the highest frequency was related to root darkening (65%) and root deflection (65%), and the lowest frequency was related to root narrowing (20%) and canal deviation (5%). The highest sensitivity of panoramic criteria was related to the root darkening with 100% sensitivity and the lowest sensitivity was related to the canal deviation with 17% sensitivity. On the other hand, the highest specificity of panoramic criteria between the mandibular third molars with the inferior alveolar nervewas was related to the two criteria of bifid apex and canal deviation with 100% specificity. The lowest specificity was related to the root deflection with 21% of specificity.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the probability of observing relationship between the mandibular third molars with the inferior alveolar nerve in CBCT radiography was very high.

Background and Aims: Dry socket is one of the most common post-tooth-extraction complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between some of the predisposing factors of dry socket and this complication in all maxillary and mandibular molars and evaluation of its incidence. Furthermore, the two jaws were compared.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 150 patients were examined in 2020 in the city of Zahedan. A questionnaire consisting of two sections was designed: In the first section age, gender, systemic disease, smoking status, contraceptive pill consumption, and antibiotic consumption were investigated. In the second section, data related to the difficulty of surgery based on the duration of surgery and the number of local anesthetic cartridges that were administered were collected. Then, the collected data were analyzed by Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests.
Results: The incidence of dry socket was 25.3%. The frequency of dry socket was significantly relevant to smoking, oral contraceptive consumption, difficulty of the surgery, and the number of local anesthetic cartridges that were administered (P≤0.05). Age, gender, controlled systemic disorder, and systemic antibiotic usage for two weeks prior to surgery revealed no significant associations with dry socket (P>0.05). Furthermore, the frequency of dry socket in maxillary and mandibular jaws had a significant difference according to smoking status, difficulty of surgery, and number of local anesthetics carpules (P≤0.05).
Conclusion: It is recommended to identify high-risk groups when performing extraction to consider pre-operative and post-operative measures in order to reduce postoperative complications.

Background and Aims: Mandibular third molar is the most common impacted tooth and craniofacial morphology and facial parameters can be appropriate predictors of impaction of this tooth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between Gonial angle, mandibular plane inclination, and ramus height with the impaction of mandibular third molar.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive-analytical study was performed by analysis of lateral cephalometric radiographic images of 172 patients in city of Zahedan in 2020. The status of eruption of mandibular third molars was determined by clinical examination and assistance of panoramic radiographic images and samples were categorized into four groups: fully erupted (1), partially impacted (2), impacted (3), partially developed (4). Then, the Gonial angle, mandibular plane, and ramus height were measured on lateral cephalometric images of each group and collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Among the patients, 68.02% were female and 31.97% were male. The difference between the mean values of Gonial angle of four groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05). In the fourth group, the mean value of mandibular plane inclination was significantly higher (29.74) and the mean value of the ramus height was significantly less (49.21 mm) than other groups.
Conclusion: According to the preformed analysis and obtained results, Gonial angle, mandibular plane, and ramus height were not accurate predictors for the impaction of mandibular third molar and further studies should be undertaken in this filed.