Frequency of mandibular third molar impaction in subjects with different facial types in southern Punjab

Aim: to determine the frequency of mandibular third molar impaction in dolicofacial and brachyfacial face type. study design: descriptive cross sectional study. duration: the study was conducted from march 2012 to march 2013. settings: department of orthodontics,nishter institute of dentistry,multan. methods: a total of sixty (60) patients (30 with dolicofacial face type) and (30 with brachyfacial face type) with either gender between 16-35 yrs of age with different type of malocclusion were included. results: majority of the patients were between 16-25 years of age and most of them were females while frequency of impaction in both facial types reveals 63.33%(n=19),among them 46.67%(n=14) in dolicofacial face type and 16.67%(n=5) in brachyfacial face type,which shows statistically significant higher incidence of impaction in dolicofacial face type. we stratified our results according to gender also which shows higher incidence of impaction in females. conclusion: dolicofacial face type subjects and female gender is more prone for impaction.