Yazd Journal of Dental Research

Introduction: Impacted third molar surgery is followed by inflammatory reactions which can cause pain, swelling and trismus. Therefore, the present study was accomplished aiming to determine mouth opening limitation after mandibular third molar surgery in patients referring to the oro-facial surgery department of Yazd dental college within the academic year of 2012-2013 . Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 63 patients participated who were suffering from impaction of mandibular third molar. The pre and mid operation factors were logged in a checklist. Maximum mouth opening, according to the space between anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth, was measured before and during the operation in time ranges of 1, 3 and 7 days with Vernir caliper. The study data were analyzed via SPSS software (ver.17) applying T-test. Results: In the present study, 63 patients participated who were 22 males (34.92%) and 41 females (65.08%) aged 18-30 years. Maximum mouth opening was significantly more on the seventh day than the third day in regard with lower age group(18-22), males, teeth with distoangular position, operation duration more than 30 minutes and duration of healing more than 12 days. (P< 0.001) Conclusion: According to the results of the current study, mouth opening limitation on the first, third and seventh day of operation revealed a significant relationship in regard with sex, tooth location, surgery duration and healing period.