PREVALENCE OF WISDOM TEETH AND ITS ASSOCIATED PAIN AMONG SAUDI POPULATION, KSA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Wisdom teeth are at the very back of the mouth, one at the end of each row of teeth. Often, they are only fully developed between the ages of 18 and 24 and only then break through - if at all. Many see them as troublemakers in their mouths because they often do not fit into the row of teeth and can cause discomfort. Wisdom teeth are considered a holdover from a bygone era when people still had larger teeth. Today most people's jaws are too small for these "extra teeth". As a result, they were almost always removed for a while. However, since not every wisdom tooth causes problems and an intervention can be associated with complications, dentists are now a little more cautious.

Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study to spot light on the prevalence of wisdom teeth and its associated pain among Saudi population.  The study was carried out at universities, hospitals and malls in KSA. Data were collected from patients and general population during a period from June to November 2021.

Results: There were 351 females who were the majority of the study (57.4%) and the rest of participants were males (n= 261). Wisdom teeth appeared among 281 participants (45.9%), but the rest haven’t had one yet. Wisdom teeth appeared during the age of 20-25 years.  The most frequent type was the partial wisdom teeth (n= 104, 17%). The most frequent problem encountered during the emergence of wisdom teeth is the irritation accompanied by pain due to the appearance of the wisdom tooth, (n= 95, 15.5%).

Conclusion: Wisdom teeth appeared to be present in about the half of the selected sample of Saudi population. It was reported that there were many problems encountered during the emergence of wisdom teeth; like: irritation accompanied by pain due to the appearance of the wisdom tooth, severe pain or stiffness in the jaw in the area around the emergence of wisdom teeth, swelling of the area due to the growth of gum tissue around the tooth, tooth crowding because there is not enough space for wisdom teeth to appear, and tooth decay and gingivitis if the wisdom tooth appears behind the mouth.