A retrospective cohort study on reasons to retain third molars
The primary goal of this study was to identify and quantify indications for
retaining third molars.
This retrospective cohort study included 1682 patients (818
male, 864 female; mean age 31 years) who were referred to the University Hospitals
Leuven for third molar removal.
Eight reasons for retaining the third molars were
identified: (1) risk of damaging adjacent structures, (2) compromised health status,
(3) adequate space for eruption, (4) third molar serves as abutment tooth, (5)
orthodontic reasons, (6) eruption into proper occlusion, (7) symptomless third
molars in patients >30 years old, and (8) patient preference.
To compare these categories between sex and age groups, a generalized linear model for binary data
was fitted with a logit link.
A total of 1149 third molars in 548 patients were not
extracted.
The most frequent reasons for retaining third molar teeth were: eruption
into proper occlusion (31.9%), patient preference (31.5%), and symptomless third
molars in patients >30 years old (17.5%).
