TY - JOUR ID - TI - Orthopantomogrphic pre-surgical assessment of mandibular third molar teeth form and structures using surgical findings as a gold standard AU - Zainab M. Al-Bahrani زينب البحراني AU - Zainab H. Al-Ghurabi زينب الغرابي AU - Sarmad S. Hassan سرمد حسن PY - 2012 VL - 24 IS - special issue 2 SP - 118 EP - 122 JO - Journal of baghdad college of dentistry مجلة كلية طب الاسنان بغداد SN - 18171869 23115270 AB - Background: Mandibular third molars are the most frequently impacted teeth in human and their surgical extractionhas become one of the commonest dentoalveolar surgeries. Accurate assessment of the position and morphologyof the mandibular third molars is necessary to make a sound decision about the proposed surgical procedure.Today, orthopantomography is the imaging method of choice to provide information for adequate assessment ofthe impacted lower third molars, the related teeth, anatomical features, and the surrounding bone. The aim of thisstudy is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of orthopantomographic view compared with postsurgical removalclinical finding in assessing the crown position, number and morphology of roots of the impacted lower third molar.Materials and methods: Total sample of 50 patients (25 males and 25 females), age range from 19 to 35 years oldwith impacted lower third molars assessed radiographically by using Standardized orthopantomography forevaluation of crown position and roots number and morphology in comparison with surgical findings.Results: According to the data obtained in this study, the comparison between the radiographic interpretation andthe clinical findings revealed a complete agreement for crown position (100% K- value) while based on roots numberthe (K –value was 0.7, 10.66, 0.80) for teeth with one, two and complex roots respectively and according to rootsmorphology (K –value was 0.64, 0.67, 0.81) for normal, fused and dilacerated roots respectively with more frequentfalse negative findingsConclusion: Although Orthopantomograph have a reasonable diagnostic value in the preoperative evaluation ofthe impacted lower third molars, but for more precise information modern radiographic modalities is advised to beused.

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