Frequency of jaw pathologic lesions related to impacted teeth in Isfahan Dental School, Iran

The impacted teeth are an important matter in dental science and one of the most common reasons of surgery in dental offices. Impacted teeth may lead to decay, pulp and periodontal disease, root resorption of adjacent teeth, and odontogenic cysts and tumors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency of pathological lesions associated with impacted teeth.
In this descriptive-analytical study, all registered samples with the lesions related to impacted teeth in the patients who referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, were reviewed from 1991 to 2020. All necessary information including age, gender, location of the lesion in the jaw, clinical and radiographic features (if described), differential diagnosis, and type of the lesion was recorded from the files. Then, the obtained information was entered in SPSS statistical software and statistically analyzed using chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Statistical significance level was considered at P < 0.05.
Out of 11964 cases in the 30-year period, 576 cases (4.81%) were related to impacted teeth lesions. The highest frequency of pathologic lesions accompanied with impacted teeth was dentigerous cyst (76.6%) and the lowest frequency was related to ameloblastic fibroodontoma (0.2%). The most common odontogenic tumors were odontoma (6.6%) and ameloblastoma (1.6%), respectively. The frequency of lesions was higher in mandible (64.6%) than maxilla. Most lesions were observed in patients less than 20 years of age.
Although the frequency of odontogenic lesions with impacted teeth was low, many patients did not have any sign or symptom. Therefore, clinical assessment and follow-up are not sufficient and radiographic and clinicopathological analysis is necessary for correct diagnosis and treatment.