Wisdom Teeth

When Abstinence is Evidence-Based

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I came across a 2012 talk Jay W. Friedman gave titled “When Abstinence is Evidence-Based: The Case Against Prophylactic Third Molar Extractions,” at the 2012 National Oral Health Conference. The PowerPoint for the talk is located over at http://www.nationaloralhealthconference.com/docs/presentations/2012/05-02/Jay%20Friedman.pdf (I have mirrored it over at http://www.teethremoval.com/When_abstinence_is_evidenced_based.pdf). For those not aware of Jay W. Friedman you can start by reading the post American Journal of Public Health Author Jay W. Friedman is 2009 Author of the Year and Looking at the Concept of Prevention in Dentistry. Some interesting graphics appear in the talk, a few which I have included in this post. The talk is very concise and to the point and very informative for anyone considering whether or not to extract wisdom teeth (third molars). I will now provide a brief overview of the talk, but encourage you to look … Read more

Removing Wisdom Teeth May Improve The Periodontal Health of Remaining Teeth

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An interesting article titled “Removal of Symptomatic Third Molars May Improve Periodontal Status of Remaining Dentition,” by Carolyn Dicus-Brookes and et al. appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 71, pp. 1639-1646, 2013). The article seeks to explore the impact of removing wisdom teeth on the periodontal status of adjacent second molars and other teeth located in the mouth specifically for patients who have mild symptoms of pericoronitis. As discussed recently over at Upcoming Changes to JOMS and AAOMS in 2014, select articles in JOMS will have press releases written by AAOMS staff to accompany them. This is one of those articles so that feature appears to have already been rolled out. To get an idea of what the press release entails I will briefly describe it. It is very short (less than 10 sentences) and fits … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Caries Experience and Periodontal Pathology in Young Patients

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An interesting article explored the prevalence of caries experience and periodontal pathology on asymptomatic wisdom teeth in young adults appears in a 2012 issue of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery by Rachel N. Garaas and et al. titled “Prevalence of third molars with caries or periodontal pathology in young adults” (J Oral Maxillofac Surg. vol. 70, pages 507-513, 2012). The article seeks to help inform young adults who are seeking advice about the extraction or retention of wisdom teeth about if these teeth can remain symptom free or not. The study includes 409 patients with an average age of 25. The authors define a periodontal probing depth of at least 4 mm as indicative of periodontal inflammatory disease. The authors found that a periodontal probing depth of at least 4 mm was detected more often on a mandibular … Read more

Updates on Anesthesia Provided by Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

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Recently, it has come to my attention that the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has released a new white paper titled “Office-Based Anesthesia Provided by the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon,” in 2013, located over at http://www.aaoms.org/docs/papers/advocacy_office_based_anesthesia.pdf. This data contains some important data from the OMS National Insurance Company (OMSNIC) which to my knowledge had been previously closed. This data is Anesthesia Morbidity and Mortality Data from 2000 to 2010  for a total of 29,975,459 in-office anesthetics (conscious sedation, deep sedation and general anesthesia) provided by oral and maxillofacial surgeons in their offices. It was found from this data that the ratio of office fatalities/brain damage per anesthetics administered is 1 to 365,534.  I had long wondered what this data showed as I have previously looked at numerous studies attempting to determine how many deaths occur when anesthesia … Read more

What is the Prevalence of Patients with Asymptomatic, Disease-Free Third Molars (Wisdom Teeth)

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An interesting article titled “How Many Patients Have Third Molars and How Many Have One or More Asymptomatic, Disease-Free Third Molars?” appears in the September 2012, supplement 1. (vol. 70, issue 9) of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Thomas B. Dodson, DMD, MPH (pg. S4-S7). The article seems to attempt to arrive at an answer to the question of how many patients really have a wisdom tooth (third molar) that is not causing problems and that has no disease. In the article Dr. Dodson recommends that patients are divided into 4 different categories when having their wisdom teeth evaluated. symptomatic, disease present (based on history and radiological examination) symptomatic, disease absent (includes teething and vague pain symptoms unrelated to wisdom tooth) asymptomatic, disease present (disease is evident from radiological findings or clinical exam but not patient … Read more