Study of complications of surgical removal of maxillary third molar

Introduction: Removal or extraction of wisdom tooth is routine dental treatment. Maxillary or mandibular third molars extraction is advised in case of odontogenic infection, badly caries tooth causing trauma to buccal mucosa, recurrent pericoronal infections or any other reason. These are the most frequently impacted teeth in the oral cavity, which are difficult for removal and associate with the complications. This research was done to assay the complications during and after maxillary third molar extraction. Materials and Methods: The study was done retrospectively and data of 3 years was assessed. Patient who were planned and followed by extraction of maxillary third molar were included in this study. Only those patients were included in study whose follow up were done after surgical extraction. All of these surgical extractions were performed by a qualified and experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon under local anaesthesia on dental chair. Results: A total of 230 patients surgical extraction of maxillary third molar were carried out. Out of these, 60 patients were found to be having postoperative or intra-operative complications. Age group of more than 40 were found more complications (30.30%) than other age groups. Out of 230 patients, Male patients had 27.86% complications and females had 24.07% complications. Most common complications present in following study were fracture of the maxillary tuberosity seen in 19 patients (31.66%). The second most commonly found complications were delayed wound healing (11 patients, 18.33%). Other less commonly found complications are post-operative pain, post-operative infection, iatrogenic injury to palate (5.0%), displacement into sinus (5.0%), haemorrhage (3.33%), Herniation of buccal fat pad into surgical site (1.66%) and Displacement into infratemporal fossa (1.66%). Conclusion: Although maxillary third molar removal is routine and secure surgical procedure, risk of complications is always present. It is important to explain and assess pre-operatively each patient to minimize the post-operative complications.