Extraction of the Mandibular Third Molar: An Evidence-based Guide

Joe Iwanaga, DDS, PhD, is a Neurosurgery, Neurology, Structural & Cellular Biology Professor at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA. Dr. Iwanaga graduated from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, School of Dentistry. He has expertise in both oral and maxillofacial surgery and clinical anatomy. In his entire career, Dr. Iwanaga has been dedicated to understanding “how anatomy can drive patient care.” He has delivered numerous presentations and is the author of more than 650 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Iwanaga has been a Councilor-at-Large of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists since 2018 and, in 2017–2018, was a Presidential Appointee of the Nominating Committee for the American Association of Clinical Anatomists. He has been a President of the Clinical Anatomy Research Association in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (CARE-OMS) since 2021. Dr Iwanaga is a Dental, Oral, and Maxillofacial Section editor for Clinical Anatomy. He also acted as an international advisory board of the 7th and 9th editions of Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy and authored the 42nd and 43rd editions of Gray’s Anatomy (Elsevier). Dr. Iwanaga is a lead editor for the Atlas of Oral and Maxillofacial Anatomy (Springer) and Anatomical Variations in Clinical Dentistry (Springer). After years of contribution to both dentistry and clinical anatomy, Dr. Iwanaga has established the concept of “Clinical Anatomy in Dentistry,” which needs to be understood by all dental healthcare providers to keep contributing to patient care via anatomical education and research.
Shogo Kikuta is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon with recognition as a specialist by the Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the International Board for the Certification of Specialists in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Dental and Oral Medical Center, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan. He completed his D.D.S. at Nagasaki University in 2012 and received his Ph.D. at Kurume University in 2017. He studied abroad as a Clinical Anatomy Research Fellow at the Seattle Science Foundation, Seattle, USA, from 2018 to 2019. He is currently an associate editor (Head and Neck) of the European Journal of Anatomy. His primary focus of practice at this time is dentoalveolar surgery, orthognathic surgery, facial trauma, and benign and malignant tumors of the maxillofacial region.
Puhan He, DMD, MD is currently a chief resident at the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her MD from the Perelman School of Medicine and her DMD from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Her research and academic interests include head and neck anatomy, pathology, improving surgical standards of care, and global surgery.
Jingo Kusukawa, Professor and Chief of the Dental and Oral Medical Center at Kurume University School of Medicine, has over 30 years of experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery. He holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from Kurume University after receiving his D.D.S. from Kyushu University. Dr. Kusukawa specializes in all aspects of oral and maxillofacial surgery, which includes a strong passion for oral oncology and pathology, orthognathic surgery, and comprehensive surgical reconstruction of oral and maxillofacial function.
Dr. R. Shane Tubbs is a clinical anatomist and practiced in pediatric neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, for 25 years. Dr. Tubbs’ research interests are centered around what his lab has termed “reverse translational anatomy research” where clinical/surgical problems are identified and addressed with anatomical studies. This investigative paradigm has resulted in over 2,000 peer-reviewed publications and has also resulted in his listing by the journal Nature in 2018 as one of the world’s ‘hyperprolific’ authors. He has a current h-index of 85 and is listed as a researcher in the top 2% of worldwide scientists.
Dr. Tubbs’ lab has made novel discoveries in human anatomy, and surgeons from around the world have used many anatomical feasibility studies from his lab. He is currently a tenured full professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, Surgery, and Structural and Cellular Biology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
He has been a visiting professor at major institutions in the U.S. and worldwide. Dr. Tubbs has authored/edited over 60 books, including Gray’s Anatomy Review, Gray’s Clinical Photographic Dissector of the Human Body, Netter’s Introduction to Clinical Procedures, Nerves and Nerve Injuries, A History of Human Anatomy, and Bergman’s Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation. He is an editor for the 5th through 7th editions of Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy, the 41st and 42nd editions of Gray’s Anatomy, and is the co-editor-in-chief of Gray’s Anatomy 43rd edition. Since 2012, he has served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Anatomy, which is the official journal of the American and British Associations of Clinical Anatomists and is now the President of this former group. Since 2019, Dr. Tubbs has served as chair of the Federative International Programme on Anatomical Terminologies.
Dr. Soichiro Ibaragi is a dedicated Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Professor at Okayama University. He received his DDS in 1997 and his PhD in 2003 from Okayama University. He started his academic career at Harvard Medical School as a Postdoctoral fellow in 2007. He was then asked to join the faculty at Okayama in 2010. He completed his OMFS, Critical Care, and Plastic Surgery training at Okayama University, Yokohama City University, and Gunma University, becoming certified by the Japanese and International Board of OMFS. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 and became tenured full Professor in 2022. He specializes in treating patients with oral cancer and is one of the committee members of the Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Oral Cancer.