Objectives

Teeth that are completely or partially remaining in bone and soft tissue that haven't taken their place in normal occlusion although the age of eruption is completed, is defined as impacted teeth. While extraction of impacted wisdom teeth can be planned after giving symptoms, they are also extracted as prophylactic occasionally. While prophylactic extractions may be preferred due to reasons such as preventing diseases and pathologies that may be caused by wisdom teeth in future, reducing the risk of mandibular fracture, and getting surgical intervention difficult with age; it also includes disadvantages such as trauma in consequence of unnecessary surgical treatment, the pain felt arising from this and economic burden. The aim of this study is to determine the reason and average extraction age of impacted wisdom teeth, and discuss the results.

Materals and Methods

200 patients, who presented to clinic of Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery between January 2020 and March 2020 and would undergo impacted 3rd molar dental surgery, were included to study. Patients' age, gender and reason of tooth extraction (theropathic/prophylactic) were recorded.

Results

There is a statistically significant relationship between gender and reason for tooth extraction (p <0.05). While major cause of extraction in men is theropathic, it is prophylactic in women. There is no statistically significant relationship between gender and tooth position (p> 0.05). While there was no statistically significant relationship between tooth extraction and tooth position for women (p> 0.05), statistically significant differences were found for men (p <0.05).

Conclusion

According to results, while male patients appealed to our clinic frequently for extraction of impacted wisdom teeth showing symptoms, this situation was mostly in favor of prophylactic extractions in female patients.