Mandibular third molar extraction: perceived surgical difculty in relation to professional training

Abstract

Background Establishing the level of surgical difculty pre-operatively is an essential step in ensuring correct treat¿ ment planning. This study set out to determine whether the knowledge and experience acquired by dentists who had received diferent levels of training infuenced, frstly, the perceived levels of difculty of a variety of cases of man¿ dibular third molar (MTM) extraction and, secondly, the perceived difculty deriving from a series of factors (patient related factors, anatomical and radiographic factors, operative factors). Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study took the form of a survey. Using a visual analog scale (VAS), participants evaluated both the perceived difculty of 30 cases of MTM extraction described by means of digital panoramic radiographs and the perceived difculty deriving from a series of factors conditioning MTM extraction. The results underwent statistical analysis with SPSS Statistics 28.0 software. Non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney test for independent samples and the Kruskal¿Wallis test) were applied. Results A total of 389 surveys were available for analysis. Dental practioners with no surgical training saw the inter¿ vention as presenting greater difculty. Professionals with postgraduate training in oral surgery considered patient related factors more important than operative factors, in contrast to dentists who had not received oral surgery training. Conclusions Dental training has a signfcant infuence on the perceived difculty of MTM extraction and also afects opinions about which factors have greater or lesser infuence on surgical difculty. Keywords Third molar, Mandibular, Extraction, Perceived difculty, Professional training