Third molar assessment Flashcards
- Impacted 3rd molars are Developmental anomaly. So, why might we have mandibular/maxillary impacted 3rd molars?
a. Due to obstruction in their eruption path
b. Or pathology
c. Or lack of physical space
d. Ectopic position of the tooth
- What is the average eruption completion of 3rd molars?
a. The average eruption completion is at 20 years, but can be up to 25 years
- what are the 3 different types of impaction?
a. Partially erupted and partially covered by soft tissues.
b. Unerupted and completely covered by soft tissues
c. Unerupted and covered by bone and soft tissue.
- What are the categories of third molar impaction according to the tooth position?
a. Mesio-angualr
b. Disto-angular
c. Vertical
d. Horizontal
e. Transverse
- Classification of third molar according to the position of impaction – what is the most common type of impaction?
a. Mesio-angular
- What is the most difficult type of impaction? Describe it
a. Disto-angular – where the third molar is leaning distally into the ramus
- What does the term vertical impaction means?
a. Normal eruption but, impacted in the coronal surface by something like soft tissue or bone
- What does the term transverse impaction mean?
a. The crown towards the buccal and the roots toward the palatal side or the other way round and in the radiograph, they look like a big ball
- List the different impactions with their average percentage of those reported.
a. Vertical – 61.8%
b. Mesio-angular – 25.5%
c. Disto-angular – 6.7%
d. Horizontal – 4%
- Differentiate between the meaning of signs and symptoms
a. Symptom means an indication of disease noticed by a patient. For example, Pain, swelling, restricted mouth opening, bad breath, difficulty chewing.
b. Sign means observations by a health professional indicating disease or disorder. For example, BOP, pathological pocket depth, tenderness on palaption, radiographic signs.
- In which arch you most commonly see 3rd molar problems?
a. Lower arch (mandibular 3rd molars)
- What are the reasons behind 3rd molars extractions/ or why 3rd molars can cause problem?
a. CYSTS / PATHOLOGY
b. PERI-APICAL DISEASE
c. ABSCESS
d. RECURRENT PERICORONITIS – which is the most common one
e. UNRESTORABLE CARIES – in the 8 itself not in the adjacent tooth
f. ORTHOGNATHIC SURGERY
g. MALIGNANT TUMOUR
h. TRAUMA INFECTION
- What is pericoronitis?
a. An infection of the soft tissue around the crown of a partially impacted tooth, usually caused by normal oral flora.
- What are the underlying causes of pericoronitis?
a. Compromised host defences (e.g. URTI, medication)
b. Minor trauma from opposing maxillary dentition (operculum)
c. Food trapping under the operculum
d. Bacterial infection - Strep and Anaerobes
e. Poor OH
- What are the symptoms of pericoronitis?
a. Pain
b. Halitosis
c. Swelling
d. Erythema
e. Bad taste
- What does systemic signs mean? And what systemic signs can we have of untreated pericoronitis?
a. Systemic signs mean not localised and spread into the body
b. Systemic signs of pericoronitis are:
- Trismus
- Pyrexia
- Lymphadenopathy
- Malaise
- Dysphagia
- Where can the dental infection spread to in the face?
a. It can spread from the tooth to facial spaces (we need to know more about facial spaces)
- Why submandibular/ submental abscess can be problematic?
a. Pushes the tongue up difficulty to swallow
b. Compress trachea cannot swallow their saliva lose their airways
c. Difficult to drain
d. Cannot put patient to sleep
e. Cannot open their mouth
f. Needs to put nasal tube while they are awake
- Is the treatment for tonsilitis the same as treatment for dental infection?
a. No, they are different (we use different antibiotics)
- List the steps that you would follow if you have patient coming with pain.
a. History (patient’s own words, use SOCRATES for pain history)
b. Clinical examination (extra-oral + intra-oral with a focus on the area in questions) (what are your findings?)
c. Formulate a differential diagnosis (Surgical Sieve)
d. Request relevant investigations to confirm your diagnosis (vitality testing, imaging) – radiographs need to be diagnostic and acceptable
i. Appropriate radiographic interpretation is used in combination with clinical information and other tests to formulate diagnosis + treatment plan
e. Confirm diagnosis – Ensure that you exclude other causes for the patients’ symptoms
f. Discuss with patient and formulate a treatment plan (discuss pros and cons of options)
g. Must discuss warnings with the patient and risks (Montgomery Consent)
- If a patient complains of pain of unerupted third molar, would it be possible that the main cause is that wisdom tooth if it was associated with pathology?
a. It is rare for third molars to cause symptoms if they are unerupted, even with associated pathology. You must consider other causes for the patients’ pain such as temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction.
- When do we use antibiotics in case of pericoronitis?
a. If there is systemic involvement
- What is the initial management of a patient comes with perichoretic and present with no systemic features. e.g., Pain, Halitosis, Swelling, Erythema or Bad taste and there is no indication of systemic involvement?
a. Treat the patient with local measures:
i. irrigation with warm saline – (patients to use a monoject TM syringe if possible)
ii. hydrogen peroxide
b. Regular analgesia – NSAID / Paracetamol (check contra-indications and interactions)
c. irrigate with warm water and table salt in home
d. Caution with chlorhexidine
- What does trismus mean?
a. restricted mouth opening where normal mouth opening is about 3 cm but this varies between people
- What does pyrexia men?
a. Fever and the normal temperature is 37
- What does dysphagia mean?
a. difficulty to swallow
- what is the initial management of a patient with pericoronitis that has spread systemically where there is a sign of systemic involvement (active infection) e.g., Trismus, Pyrexia, Lymphadenopathy, Malaise or Dysphagia?
We would do 3 things:
a. Local measures: Irrigation with Warm Saline Hydrogen Peroxide
b. Analagesia
c. Metronidazole 200mg TDS for 3/7 or Amoxicillin 500mg TDS for 3/7
- Is metronidazole a very strong antibiotic drug for pericoronitis? Why?
a. No, metronidazole is specific only for anaerobic bacteria. And pericoronitis is mixed infection.
- Give an example of strong antibiotic that would you use to manage pericoronitis infection? Justify your answer.
a. Amoxicillin as it is broad spectrum antibiotic. And pericoronitis is mixed infection
- What antibiotic would you use in case of having strong infection due to pericoronitis?
a. If it is very strong infection, you can give both antibiotics (amoxicillin and metronidazole) together
- What does TDS mean?
a. 3 times a day
- What does 3/7 mean?
a. for 3 days
- Why do we try to reduce the time we give the patient antibiotics?
a. to avoid the risk of resistance and antibiotics side effects
- what are the indications for the third molar removal according to the NICE guidelines?
a. Unrestorable caries (of the 8 not the adjacent tooth)
b. Non-treatable pulpal and/or periapical pathology
c. Cellulitis
d. Abscess
e. Osteomyelitis
f. Internal/external resorption of the third molar or adjacent tooth
g. Fracture of tooth
h. Disease of the follicle (inc cyst/tumour)
i. Tooth/teeth impeding surgery or reconstructive jaw surgery (e.g. orthognathic / trauma)
j. Tooth involved in surgical resection field for tumour
- What will happen if we have caries in the distal surface of a 7 that is adjacent to an impacted third molar and according to the NICE guidelines the wisdom tooth is not indicated to be removed? Does removing the 7 helps in moving the 8?
a. If you left that wisdom tooth, the 7 would probably have a short life span because you will not be able to clean that, and that caries would progress
b. Removing the 7 will not help in moving the 8 to the position of the 7 (this is not possible, it will never, erupt to the position of the 7 (will move just a little bit))
- What will happen if the patient left untreated from the local infection?
a. It will progress and lead to more serious consequences (systemic involvement)
- What are the consequences of dental infections?
a. There are potential routes of spread through the facial spaces. (you need to have an appreciation of the spaces and consequences of infections in such areas)
- What factors must we consider prior to removal of coronectomy of third molars?
a. patient factors
b. surgical factors.
- What are the patient factors?
a. Age
b. Social History
c. Medical History
d. Drug History
e. BMI
f. Ethnicity
g. Capacity
- What are the surgical factors?
a. The third molar itself
b. Periodontal Status
c. Surgical Anatomy
d. Systemic factors
e. Mouth opening
f. Adjacent structures
g. Associated pathology
h. TMJ status
i. Occlusal relationship
j. The operator
- How could the age of the patient impact on the third molar removal surgery (coronectomy)?
a. Complexity: Increased complication over the age of 25/ Increased age mandibular third molar extractions would be more complicated
b. Mental health: With increased age we see more mental health issues which will impact on surgery e.g., dementia, alzheimers, parkinsons, post stroke IHD
c. Bone quality: Bone get harder with older ages
d. Medical complexity
e. Caries: Retained carious teeth (inc third molars) + more carious teeth