Background: The Prediction of extraction difficulty of impacted mandibular third molar (M3M) is extremely important for both patients and clinicians. Recently, many new difficulty-estimating indices had been proposed, among them are, Zhang et al., Kim et al., Pernambuco, Lainez et al., and Roy et al. indices. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of these new scales as preoperative predictors of the difficulty of surgical removal of impacted M3M. Material and Methods: The five scales under study predicted extraction difficulty of a series of 50-impacted M3M preoperatively, and postoperative difficulty was assessed with Parant scale (PS) and by the time required for surgery (TS).
Results: The proposed indices had low to moderate sensitivity (21%-45%, 41%-67%) and variable in their
Specificity (21%-86%, 36%-85%). Only three out of five evaluated indices have shown a Statistically significant correlation with both, the operation time and the surgical technique; namely, Zhang et al., Pernambuco, Lainez et al. indices.
Conclusions: Zhang et al., Pernambuco, Lainez et al. indices can be used as preoperative predictors of the impacted M3M extraction difficulty.
Dental Hygiene & Oral Health
Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics
Pediatric Dentistry
Periodontology
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Oral Cancer and Dentures
Geriatric & Nano Dentistry
Digital Dentistry and 3D Imaging (CAD/CAM)
Dental Laboratory Materials and Processes
Advanced Tools and Treatment Techniques in Dentistry