Histopathologic Finding of Soft Tissue Associated with Impacted Mandibular Third Molars that Did Not Exhibit Pathologic Pericoronal Radiolucency.

Objectives The present study was executed with the objective to evaluate histopathological features of pericoronal follicles (PFs) of asymptomatic impacted mandibular third molars that did not exhibit pathologic pericoronal radiolucency. Study design A cross-sectional study was conducted among pericoronal follicular specimen of soft tissue associated with asymptomatic, radiographically normal impacted mandibular third molars from 95 subjects. Intraoral periapical radiographs (IOPA) and orthopantomogram of all subjects were recorded and traced using tracing paper. After the tooth removal, the follicle was carefully enucleated from the socket attachment. The cut sections were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin stain and sections were microscopically evaluated. Epithelial cell proliferation was determined by immunohistochemical labelling. The associations between the attributes were tested using the Chi-Square Test. Results Thirty seven [37.3%] specimen revealed dentigerous cyst-like changes and two [2.1%] specimens revealed odontogenic keratocyst [OKC]-like changes. Immunohistochemical evaluation of proliferation marker Ki-67 was found to be positive in only 7.69 % of the hyperplastic type of epithelium. Conclusion The data revealed that there is a risk of pathologic changes associated with radiographically normal asymptomatic impacted mandibular third molar.