Possible link between extraction of wisdom teeth and temporomandibular disc displacement with reduction: matched case control study

/Home/Specific Dental and Oral Conditions/Wisdom Teeth

Possible link between extraction of wisdom teeth and temporomandibular disc displacement with reduction: matched case control study
Accepted 3 October 2004
A.G. Threlfall, M.D. Kanaa, S.J. Davies, M. Tickle
British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Summary
We undertook a case control study that compared 220 patients diagnosed with disc displacement with reduction at the Dental Hospital of Manchester with 1100 controls drawn from participants in the 1998 Adult Dental Health Survey. We found that patients were not significantly more likely to have had extraction of third molars than controls; odds ratio: 1.28, 95% CI: 0.96Ň1.71. Also only 21 patients (9.5%) reported having had extraction of third molars in the 5 years before their diagnosis. We conclude that for most patients extraction of third molars is unlikely to have caused disc displacement with reduction.

Keywords: Third molar, TMJ, Wisdom tooth
Oral Health Unit, Dental Hospital of Manchester, Manchester University, Higher Cambridge Street, Manchester M15 6FH, UK

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 0161 275 6733.

PII: S0266-4356(04)00205-0

doi:10.1016/j.bjoms.2004.10.001

© 2004 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2007 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved

You can view the abstract online. A subscription is required to view the full text or it can be purchased online.