Background: Extractions of third molars constitute about 90% of the scheduled surgical procedures performed by oral surgeons. Wisdom tooth surgery is associated with complications, such as the lingual and inferior alveolar nerve damage, bleeding, tooth/jaw fractures, tooth displacement into the adjacent anatomical spaces, trismus, infections, and other.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyze complications after wisdom tooth extraction in patients treated at the Department of Oral Surgery of Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Poland, in the years 2016-2018.
Material and methods: A retrospective analysis of the medical records of 339 patients treated in the outpatient setting was performed. The inclusion criterion comprised a single extraction of a third molar. The exclusion criteria were multiple extractions, comorbidities and pregnancy. No antibiotic prophylaxis was used. The incidence of post-extraction complications, such as oroantral communication, postoperative hematoma, acute inflammation of the surrounding tissues, trismus, and transient paresthesia in relation to patient gender and age, the developmental stage and location of the removed tooth as well as the type of surgery were studied.
Results: Perioperative complications occurred in 51 (15.0%) cases, and comprised the acute inflammation of the surrounding tissues in 31 patients, trismus after the removal of 13 lower third molars, oroantral communication after the extraction of 5 upper wisdom teeth, and hematoma as well as a transient sensory alteration of the lingual nerve in 1 case each. Complications were more common in patients who had a surgical extraction of a wisdom tooth with root separation and in cases of lower third molar extractions. No statistically significant correlation was found between the patients' age or gender, the developmental stage of the extracted tooth and the number of observed complications.
Conclusions: Lower third molars and the necessity of surgical extraction with root separation are risk factors for postoperative complications in patients who require wisdom tooth removal. Complications after the removal of third molars are most often inflammatory.
Keywords: molar; postoperative complications; risk factors; third; tooth extraction.