Pathological Changes in Radiographically Normal Dental Follicule: A CBCT Study

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Dental follicle arises from odontogenicmesenchyme which result in tooth formation. Study aimed toestimate pathological alteration in follicle of impacted thirdmolar(ITM) in cone beam computer tomography (CBCT)and correlation with patient’s age, gender, site and angularposition.Material and Methods: Dental follicle (DF) from 80 ITMwere collected from 68 patients with follicular space ≤ 1.5 mmas measured from the CBCT. dental follicle associated withimpacted teeth were extracted and sent for histopatholicalexamination. statistical analysis was performed.Results: In 80 follicles which were evaluated for patholocalchanges were taken from patients ranging from age of 18to 50 years with a mean age of 37.5 years out if which 21were females and 19 were males. Pathological alterationwere found associated with 10 (35%) follicles which wasstatistically significant (p < 0.001). Incidence of pathologywas slightly more in females and in mandibular jaw. Lesionswere most commonly seen in jaws which were distoangularlyand horizontally impacted.Conclusion: it was concluded that radiographically normalappearing impacted teeth may be associated with variouspathology. So histopatholoic evaluation of all impacted teethis mandatory