Third molars impaction pattern with associated pathologies in panoramic radiographs of West Java, Indonesian population

Introduction
Third molars have the most cases of tooth impaction associated with oral and dental pathologies. Assessment of third molar’s impaction pattern and related pathological condition are important for treatment consideration. The present study aimed to observe the impaction pattern of third molars in West Java, Indonesian population, and analysed the correlation with the impaction-associated pathologies.

Material and methods
Digital panoramic radiographs of 83 subjects (52 females, 31 males), with mean age of 19.12 years, were obtained. From the sample, 313 third molars were classified according to Pell & Gregory’s and Winter’s impaction classifications. Pathological conditions were registered from medical records and radiograph examinations. Fisher’s exact test was applied to determine the significance of variables, and correlation and odds ratio (OR) were calculated.

Results
Four pathological conditions were observed from the research sample, including caries, pericoronitis, osteoma, and periapical abscess. Analysis of Pell & Gregory’s classification showed that there was significant evidence of caries in class A, with correlation of 0.26 (OR: 18.53; 95% CI: 3.61-95.00%), and pericoronitis in class IIA, with correlation of 0.31 (OR: 12.83; 95% CI: 4.38-37.60%). There was no significant pathologic conditions’ incident related to Winter’s classification.

Conclusions
Within the research sample, there was two pathological conditions significantly associated with Pell & Gregory’s classification, which were caries with class A and pericoronitis with class IIA. While there was no pathologic condition associated with third molars’ angulation according to Winter’s classification. Future research should consider clinical examination with greater third molars’ sample.