Distal cervical caries in second molars associated with impacted mandibular third molars: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: This study compares the incidence of cervical caries in the mandibular second molar associated with impacted third molar with that of fully erupted third molar. STUDY DESIGN: The participants consisted of subjects with second molar adjacent to an impacted third molar (study group), and subject with second molar adjacent to a fully erupted third molar (control group). Incidence of cervical caries on the second molar and other variables were recorded and analyzed for both groups. RESULTS: The incidence of distal cervical caries in the study group was 15.7% and no case of distal cervical caries was seen in the control (P = .000). DMF score in study group was significantly lower than in control (P = .000). The incidence of distal cervical caries increased with age of subjects and DMF scores (P ≤ .05). CONCLUSIONS: Distal cervical caries in second molars is a phenomenon limited only to impacted mandibular third molars.