UK NATIONAL 3RD MOLAR PROJECT - THE INITIAL REPORT

The National Third Molar (NTM) project nas set up to assess current cl inical practice in the UK concerning the management of third molar tee th, Patients,,ere recruited from both hospital and general dental prac tice. During the one month study period 9248 patients with 26577 third molars were recruited, In this report we present the findings in the 8298 patients with 25001 third molars who were referred to hospital fo r assessment, Over half of all patients referred for assessment had ei ther no extractions or a single third molar extracted, Less than a qua rter of all patients referred underwent removal of all four third mola rs, Twenty per cent of all third molars assessed were not extracted, O f all loner third molars listed for extraction, 9574 (78%) were associ ated with symptoms or disease, Pericoronitis was the commonest indicat ion for extraction and was cited in 39.5% of all extractions. Almost 7 0% of third molar extractions were done under general anaesthesia whil e less than a quarter were performed under local anaesthesia alone.