Lower Third Molar Surgery - Difficulty Assessment

Surgical removal of the mandibular third molars is one of the most common surgical procedures performed as a day case or as an inpatient, and continues to be the most frequent surgical procedure performed in the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Factors reported to be associated with mandibular third molars complications include age, gender, medications (antibiotics, corticosteroids, or oral contraceptives), smoking, previous infection, poor oral hygiene, surgeon experience, difficulty of extraction, length of extraction, inadequate irrigation, number of teeth extracted and anesthetic technique. The ability to predict the surgical difficulty of lower third molar extraction is essential when designing a treatment plan in that it helps to assess the competence of the dental practitioner for the particular operation, minimize complications, and optimize the preparation of the patient and assist in terms of the postoperative management of edema, trismus and pain.