A retrospective study of characteristics of impacted mandibular wisdom teeth in 110 patients treated in Nairobi, Kenya.

Analysis of 110 records of patients who presented with impacted mandibular 3rd molars was carried out to determine the frequency of occurrence of unilateral and bilateral impactions and their characteristics. 68.2% of the patients had bilateral impactions. Among the patients with bilateral impactions, 72% had mesioangular impaction occurring either bilaterally or in combination with other types of impaction. Furthermore, 38.7% mesioangular impactions were observed on the right and left sides in the patients with bilateral impactions. Among the patients with unilateral impactions 40.2% presented with mesioangular impaction, while 25.7% presented with distoangular impactions. While these observations support the general consensus regarding aetiology of mandibular 3rd molar impactions as being tooth-tissue discrepancy, the possible influence of other factors is suggested.