Acute inflammation is frequently seen in the elderly around incompletely impacted molars located apart from molars or premolars. To identify the factors causing acute inflammation in the solitary molars without second molars or without second and first molars, ages of patients and rates of acute inflammation in 75 horizontal incompletely impacted mandibular molars in contact or not in contact with molars in subjects 41 years old or older were studied using orthopantomographs. Acute inflammation was seen in nine third molars out of 48 third molars in contact with second molars (18.8%), whereas acute inflammation was seen in 11 molars out of 19 solitary molars without second molars or without first and second molars (57.9%) (p < 0.01). The mean age of 48 subjects with third molars in contact with the second molar was 50.42 +/- 7.62 years, and the mean age of 19 subjects with isolated molars was 65.16 +/- 10.41 years (p < 0.0001). These indicate that a solitary horizontal incompletely impacted molar leads more frequently to acute inflammation along with aging due to possible bone resorption resulting from teeth loss.
Keywords: acute inflammation; elderly; impaction; mandible; solitary molar; third molar.