Wisdom Teeth

New Legislation In California Proposed to Increase Medical Malpractice Damage Caps: Why It is Important if you Are Having Wisdom Teeth Extracted

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A recent piece over on DrBicuspid.com titled “Dentists fight Calif. malpractice insurance ballot measure” draws attention to new proposed legislation in California (California Proposition 46) see http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=log&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.drbicuspid.com%2findex.aspx%3fsec%3dsup%26sub%3dbai%26pag%3ddis%26ItemID%3d316366. The article discusses the previous medical malpractice legislation in California called the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) which placed a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damage awards. The act did allow for unlimited economic damages and out of pocket costs. The article then discusses Proposition 46 in California written as “The Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act,” to quadruple MICRA’s cap on noneconomic damages to $1.1 million. This actually simply changes the original $250,000 non-economic damage cap established in 1975 to what it would be today if it was indexed for inflation. I have previously discussed this over at http://www.teethremoval.com/legal_standpoint.html. The article goes on to get commentary from a past California Dental Association … Read more

The Culture of Safety in Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery

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Previously in a post over at http://blog.teethremoval.com/upcoming-changes-to-joms-and-aaoms-in-2014/, I discussed how the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is introducing a new perspectives section which “…will offer essays written on topics of interest to our specialty, including health policy, clinical controversies, and education and research matters, as examples.” On of the first perspectives section is written by Suzanne Morse Buhrow and titled “Promoting a Culture of Safety in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: The Time Is Now!” in the February 2014 Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery, pp. 239-240. The article opens by discussing the origins of the patient safety movement in the 1980s after the Institute of Medicine said 98,000 patients will die and 1.5 million will be injured every year from preventable medical errors in the United States. The article mentions how the National Practitioner Data Bank in the U.S. … Read more

Pediatric Dental Death in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada Spurs Comments on Dental Anesthesia

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Recently, a death has occurred in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, in a dental office. Details of the case have not yet been released, but a boy died after getting anesthetic and had a previously undetected heart condition. It seemed to have occurred sometime around late April, 2014, but the date may be off a bit. It appears that in this case the boy was brought to a hospital after the dental office in an attempt to save his life. An interesting article over in the Cambridge times published June 27, 2014, by Gordon Paul, titled “Pediatric dental surgery with anesthesia should be done in hospitals, dentist says,” provides some comments on this case. See http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/4605070-pediatric-dental-surgery-with-anesthesia-should-be-done-in-hospitals-dentist-says/. In this article comments by Dr. Hanover who is on the political action committee of the Ontario Dental Association are provided. He says “I think every pediatric dentist … Read more

Dental Patients Warned of Possible HIV and Hepatitis Exposure in Pennsylvania

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Recently, patients of a long time dentist in Pennsylvania have been warned of possible exposure to HIV and hepatitis B and C. The dental license of the 74 year old dentist has been suspended as state officials investigate. It is suspected that he was not properly sterilizing his instruments. No reports of disease or transmission have occurred. The dentist is a long time dentist of a school district. In an interview with one of the school’s students who was examined by the dentist and her mother, it was stated the dentist didn’t have gloves on when treating patients and didn’t wash his hands between patients. The full interview can be seen over at http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news-channel/dirty-dentist-has-town-clenching-its-teeth-282301507827 provided by NBC News. In the past, other cases have occurred where dentists or oral surgeons have been suspected of not following proper procedures to avoid spreading disease. For … Read more

Flesh Eating Bacteria Leads to Death After Wisdom Teeth Removal

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Earlier this year (2014) in February, I posted about an Eighteen Year Old Music Student in Portland Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removal. This occurred in Maine. It has been since confirmed by a medical examiner, that the 18 year old man died after his wisdom teeth extraction by developing necrotizing fasciitis. This is a flesh eating bacteria which can ravage muscles and skin tissue. A quote is provided (see source below)  by the infection control expert from the American Dental Association who says he has never heard of necrotizing fasciitis after wisdom teeth extractions. I am not quite sure why he says this as cases have appeared of this in the literature and I have discussed this on the wisdom teeth complications page over at http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html. Another case of death occurring from necrotizing fasciitis after wisdom teeth extraction occurred to a … Read more