September 2010

Objective:- To investigate the distribution of individual tooth impaction in general dental patients of Northern India. Setting:- Centre for Dental Education and Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Design:- Hospital based crossectional study. Methods:- General dental patients were examined clinically and impacted teeth were diagnosed from radiographs. The distribution of impacted teeth (excluding third molars) with respect to the arch, side and gender were recorded. The results were analyzed with respect to the prevalence of individual tooth impaction. The distribution of teeth impaction was evaluated by using the Chi-square test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results:- Of 27,529 general dental patients examined, 134 (0.49%) had at least oneimpacted tooth and a total of 220 impacted teeth were recorded. The most frequently impacted teeth were maxillary canines (52.27%) and the least frequently impacted teeth were maxillary first and second molars (0%). Conclusions:- The prevalence of teeth impaction in the North Indian dental patients was less when compared with the other populations. The most frequently impacted teeth were maxillary canines and the least frequently impacted teeth were maxillary first and second molars. Key words: Dental, impaction, patients, prevalence, tooth.