Postoperative Complications of Third Molar Surgical Extraction in a Malaysian Sample

Abstract

Background: The most common impacted teeth in adults are the mandibular third molars which frequently require surgical extraction. There are many factors contributing to the occurrence of postoperative complications, one of which is surgeon’s experience. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of postoperative complications of third molar extractions by different level of surgical experience. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in Kulliyyah of Dentistry, International Islamic University Malaysia. A total of 112 cases were collected from the records of surgical extraction of lower third molars performed by dental students, dental officers and specialists, collected data was transferred into special case sheets and analyzed using IBM SPSS 23. Results: From 112 cases, 64(57.1%) had presented with postoperative complications. The highest prevalence of postoperative complications was in dental students’ group 38 out of 62 patients (61.3%), followed by specialists’ group 20 out of 39 patients (51.3%) and dental officers’ group 6 out of 11 patients (51.6%). Meanwhile, the common complications observed were pain (33.9%), swelling (20.5%), trismus (12.5%), paresthesia (6.3%) and bleeding (3.0%). Conclusions: There is no statistically significant correlation between the postoperative complications and the level of surgeons’ experience.