Effect of extraction of mandibular mesially impacted wisdom teeth on the proximal contact strength

Objective To explore the influence of extracting different types of mandibular mesially impacted third molars on the proximal contact strength(PCS) of adjacent teeth. Methods One hundred and ten cases of mandibular mesially impacted third molars were divided into high impacted group(40 cases), middle impacted group(40 cases) and low impacted group(30 cases). The PCS of the adjacent teeth of impacted teeth(between the mandibular second premolar L5 and the mandibular first molar L6, and between the mandibular first molar L6 and the mandibular second molar L7) were measured by high-precision dynamometer before and after operation, and the mean and standard deviation were statistically measured. The differences of PCS before and after extraction in each group were analyzed. Results Without considering the classification of mesial impacted teeth, extraction of mandibular third molars led to the decrease in PCS of L5/L6 and L6/L7. In the high-middle impacted groups, the extraction of mandibular third molars led to the decrease in PCS of L5/L6 and L6/L7, while in the low impacted group, there was no statistical difference between the changes in PCS of L5/L6 and L6/L7. Conclusion The extraction of high-middle mandibular mesially impacted third molars can significantly reduce the adjacent teeth’s PCS, but the extraction of low mandibular mesially impacted third molars has no significant effect on the adjacent teeth’s PCS.