Association of Prevalence of Dental Caries in Mandibular Second Molar with Impacted Third Molar.

BACKGROUND: An impacted tooth is a tooth which does not reach the occlusal plane even after two-thirds root formation. Conditions associated with impacted teeth include trismus, cystic lesions, and cervical caries of second molars. The objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of carious lesions in the distal aspect of the mandibular second molar and its association with the presence of mandibular third molars. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2018 to September 2020. Approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee with reference number 90/77/78. Orthopantomograms of patients aged 18 years or older were studied. Information on age, gender, mandibular second and third molars were recorded. Convenient sampling was done. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21. RESULTS: A total of 626 radiographs were studied of which mesioangular impaction (35.3%) was the most prominent type and followed by horizontal impaction, causing distal caries in second molars. The age group between 20-40 years and female gender had the higher prevalence of distal caries in second molar teeth. There was a significant correlation between gender and cavity existence (p=0.00), between impaction and existence of decay (p=0.00), and depth of impaction with cavity formation (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: A total of 31.8% of the patients with impacted mandibular third molars had distal cervical caries in second molars. Mesioangular type, female gender, type A were the prominent factors associated with distal caries in second molar teeth due to impacted third molars.

Endodontic Indications among Patients Visiting a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Endodontics is the study of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases or injuries to the dental pulp. The ultimate goal of modern dental care is tooth preservation and root canal therapy/treatment is an available therapeutic strategy to retain teeth. The aim of the study is to find the prevalence of patients visiting a tertiary care center who had endodontic indications. METHODS: The descriptive cross-sectional study included 516 patients accepted for endodontic treatment, between August 2019 and December 2019 in a tertiary care center. Ethical approval was taken from the ethical review board of Nepal Health Research Council (reference number: 425-2019). Convenience sampling method was used. The data were entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 software and analysed using descriptive statistics. Point estimate at 95% confidence interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Out of 1740 patients, 516 (29.66%) (95% Confidence Interval= 21.46% - 27.51%) had endodontic indications. Symptomatic irreversible pulpitis 306 (59.30%) was the most prevalent pulpal disease. Maxillary teeth 300 (58.13%) had more endodontic diseases. While in individual dental elements most affected by endodontic diseases was the mandibular molar teeth 149 (28.87%). Females 348 (67.44%) were predominant for demanding endodontic management than males 168 (32.5%). CONCLUSIONS: More female patients and of younger age group in this study population demanded endodontic treatment. Irreversible pulpitis was responsible for the majority of the cases treated and more affected were the posterior teeth.