11 April 2022

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Maxillary Third Molar Extraction: Two Techniques Compared

Simona Chirico

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Maxillary third molar extraction is commonly performed in dental clinics. The traditional techniques is a combination of luxation and removal forces with respectively elevator and forceps. This practice involves the manipulation of both hard and soft tissue that could be affected by various postoperative complications. These include pain, swelling, bleeding, alveolar osteitis, maxillary tuberosity fracture and many others. Therefore, reducing the incidence of these complications becomes essential. Designing and analyzing a treatment plan could help the interception of them but even the development of new surgical technique or new design of instruments have enabled the clinician to manage the extraction with less accidents.
This study published on Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, introduced a new extraction technique of upper third molars, Joedds technique, in comparison with the traditional method.

Methods and Material
One hundred people were selected for the study and randomly divided into two groups. Patients in the age groups of 18–50 years only were included. All extractions were performed by the same surgeon.
- Control group: conventional technique of maxillary third molar extraction was used;
- Experimental group: Joedds technique of maxillary third molar extraction was performed using lower cowhorn forceps (#217).

The analyzed variables were: time for extraction, trauma to surrounding soft tissues, root fracture and tuberosity fracture. Analysis was done by student’s t test.  

Results
After extractions, analysis of 50 patients who underwent Joedds technique showed that they had minimal trauma to both soft and hard tissues, less tuberosity and root fractures and the time taken for extraction was <2 min.

Conclusion
Extraction of maxillary third molar using #217 lower cowhorn forceps seems to be a good technique to minimize trauma and to reduce complications in the proper case. Indeed it cannot be use neither in isolated nor in grossly decayed molar extractions.

For additional informations: Comparing the Efficiency of Two Different Extraction Techniques in Removal of Maxillary Third Molars: A Randomized Controlled Trial