Complications Following Surgery of Impacted Teeth and Their Management

One of the most performed procedures in the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery is removal of impacted teeth, especially third molars. Impaction is defined as failure of teeth to erupt into the dental arch within the expected time [1,2]. The reasons for tooth impaction include several factors subdivided into a local and general factors such as position and size of adjacent teeth, dense overlying bone, excessive soft tissue or a genetic abnormality including abnormal eruption path, dental arch length and space in which to erupt [1-3]. Clinically and radiographically, there are two types of impactions namely complete and partial. Complete impaction means that the tooth is covered by bone and mucosa and is prevented from erupting into a normal functional position; partial impaction means that the tooth is partially visible or in communication with oral cavity, but it has failed to erupt fully into a normal position [1]. The most common impacted teeeth are mandibular and maxillary third molars, followed by the maxillary canines and mandibular premolars. New data suggests that 72,2% of the world population has at least one impacted tooth (usually lower third molar) [3,4]. From the last 40 years, the incidence of impacted teeth has grown through different populations, due to living habits such as soft food diet and lower intensity of the use of the masticatory apparatus [3]. Only a few decades earlier, Inuits and Latin American Indians were described as populations with no impacted teeth [1]. Some authors suggest that race and gender have an influence on occurrence of impactions; thus, the impactions are more common in Caucasians than in Negroes; and females are more predisposed to this phenomenon than males. The age of the patients also play an important role in impacted teeth occurrence. Patients between 20 and 30 years of age are the most frequently affected with symptomatic impactions [4-7]. As age