Keywords
anodontia
Nepal
panoramic radiographs
third molar
Abstract
Introduction: Tooth agenesis is the developmental absence of a tooth. The most commonly involved tooth in agenesis is the third molar. The variation of agenesis of the third molar may vary in different populations.
Objective: To assess the pattern of prevalence of third molar agenesis and explore its variation based on gender among patients attending Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS), Dhulikhel Hospital (DH), a tertiary health care centre in Nepal.
Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, KUSMS, DH from 2024 June to 2024 October 2024 after ethical approval. A total of 638 panoramic radiographs of patients above 18 years of age were included in the study to assess the agenesis of third molars using convenience sampling. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2019 and analysed in SPSS v.25. Cross-tabulation was done using descriptive statistics. The Chi-square test and Fischer’s exact test were used to compare the pattern of prevalence of missing third molars based on gender.
Results: The prevalence of third molar agenesis in the present study was 22.26% (n=142), with a prevalence of 20.32% (n = 63) in males and 26.22% (n = 86) in females, the difference being statistically significant (p=0.013).
Conclusions: In this study group, the prevalence of third molar agenesis was higher among females than males.
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