[Wisdom teeth-complications requiring in-patient treatment. A 1-year prospective study]

In view of the conflicting guidelines issued by national and international scientific societies, debate about the indications for prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth is ongoing. This prospective study was therefore set up to explore the complications associated with wisdom teeth and requiring in-patient treatment.

From January /2003 to December 2003, 21 subjects were admitted for treatment of complications associated with wisdom teeth. The medical history was recorded for each of these patients, as were the cause and type of the complications. The parameter used to quantify the severity of any infections was the CRP, and the overall clinical complexity level of each case was assessed by the length of stay in hospital (and the duration of intensive care if this had been necessary). The characteristics of patients in the group with postoperative complications were compared to those of patients with complications attributable to pericoronitis. Moreover, complications in patients who had undergone prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth that had not been causing any symptoms were compared with those in patients whose wisdom teeth had been extracted because of morbidity.

Overall, 18 deep-space infections (15 abscesses, 2 inflammatory infiltrations, 1 case of phlegmonous cellulitis), 2 mandibular fractures and 1 lingual nerve injury were noted within 1 year. The complications resulted from surgical procedures in 15 of the 21 cases, while in 6 they had their origin in pericoronitis. Extensive surgery or intensive care was required only for patients with postoperative complications. The length of stay in hospital was significantly greater for patients with postoperative complications ( p= 0.007, U-test). However, 9 of these 15 patients reported preoperative episodes of infection. Thus, more than two thirds of the complications could be traced back to wisdom teeth that were causing symptoms.

In our clinic's catchment area, infectious complications were more frequent and more severe and required more intensive and longer treatment in hospital than complications arising from pericoronitis. However, complications of prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth were decidedly less frequent than direct or indirect complications of extraction of symptomatic teeth. Thus, our data tend to support the concept of elective extraction of wisdom teeth with the aim of preventing serious infections.