The radiological and histological investigation of the dental follicle of asymptomatic impacted mandibular third molars

BMC Oral Health

Research

Junliang Chen¹  Wei Xu¹  Yun He¹  Kuncai Li¹  Tiejun Zhou² 

[1] Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China;Oral and Maxillofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration of Luzhou Key Laboratory, Luzhou, China;Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China;

关键词: Third molars;    Tooth extraction;    Cone beam computed tomography;    Dental follicle;    Odontogenic cyst;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12903-022-02681-6

 received in 2022-09-07, accepted in 2022-12-19,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectivesThe indication for removal of asymptomatic fully impacted third molars is still controversial. In this study, radiological and histological investigation of the dental follicle of asymptomatic impacted mandibular third molars was performed, aiming to provide a reference for clinical prophylactic extraction of these teeth.MethodsPatients with impacted mandibular third molars were included and the maximum width of the dental follicle around the crown was measured in horizontal, sagittal and coronal sections by cone beam computed tomography. The dental follicles were stained with haematoxylin-eosin, analysed by a pathologist and classified as normal, inflammatory or cystic. A Chi-squared test was used to analyse the association of the incidence of inflammation and cysts with the clinical variables of the impacted mandibular third molars.ResultsThirty-seven samples were normal dental follicles; 52 samples showed inflammatory infiltration with an incidence of 57.14%; 2 samples with a maximum dental follicle width of 2–3 mm were diagnosed as odontogenic cysts, and the incidence was 2.20%. There was no significant difference in the incidence of inflammatory and cystic dental follicles between males and females, or between different age groups (P > 0.05). With an increase of the maximum width of the dental follicle, there was a rise in the incidence and degree of infiltration of chronic nonspecific inflammation.ConclusionAsymptomatic impacted mandibular third molars tend to be extracted, especially for teeth with a 2–3 mm maximum width of the dental follicle on radiological examination.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

【 图 表 】

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