TeethRemoval.com

Unfortunately another case of a person dieing after having wisdom teeth removed has occurred. See this page for some additional information on death from wisdom teeth removal.

In this case a young 14 year old boy died within 24 hours after having his wisdom teeth removed.

This story has been covered over at DailyMail located at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073128/Ben-Ellis-14-dies-just-hours-having-wisdom-teeth-removed.html

The article states the young man had wisdom teeth removed early on a late Wednesday morning. He then took one penicillin tablet and one Oxycodone. He was then found to be dead early the following morning.

An autopsy and toxicology tests are currently being performed.

As indicated by a few of the commentators on the article it is not clear that the death was from the wisdom teeth removal but as speculation it would appear to be the contributing factor.

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An interesting article appears over on drbicuspid.com over at http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&ItemID=309247 titled “Lawsuit claims dentist stifled patients’ free speech rights” by Donna Domino and posted on Dec. 1 2011.

A discussion is made of a New York dentist and a class action lawsuit that was filed in late November. The complaint was filed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group.

In the case a patient went to the New York dentist and signed an agreement by Medical Justice  in which the patient agreed not to denigrate or disparage the dentist on the Internet or other broadcast media.

The patient went to the dentist because of a sore tooth and was charged $4,766 for two office visits. The patient says the insurance claim was sent to the wrong insurance company and was 25 times the going rate. The patient requested his records so he could submit the claim by himself but was told he would have to go to a third party who would charge 5% of the total bill just for copying the records.

This led the patient to get frustrated and posted negative ratings of the dentist on Yelp and DoctorBase.

This prompted the dentist to demand the comments to be removed and began invoicing the patient $100 per day for copyright infringement.

The lawsuit filed attempts to address the issue of restricting online criticism and seeks to show that the agreement signed by this patient is null and void. Further it alleges that patients signing these types of agreements violates dental ethics.

Paul Alan Levy, an attorney at Public Citizen involved in this case is quoted as saying

“What began as a case of a sore tooth is now showcasing an unconscionable practice in which doctors and dentists force patients to leave their constitutional rights at the office door. If people are upset about their care, they have a First Amendment right to tell people about it by going online and posting their thoughts on Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and the like.”

As commented by a user of the article on drbicuspid.com the patient did have a week to potentially find another dentist.

Even so I can see how if the patient was in pain and being asked to sign forms limiting their ability to make comments online this could be problematic.

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A hilarious piece aired on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart back in October 26, 2011 titled “Science: What’s It Up To?”

In the segment Aasif Mandvi sits down with Republican Strategist Noelle Nikpour

She says

“Scientists are scamming the American people right and left for their own financial gain.”

Aasif Mandvi comments

“Why are surgeons the only ones allowed to perform surgeries and other surgeons are the only ones who get to say whether this surgery is necessary or not? Doesn’t make any sense. And the only other people that can check to make sure that they are not manipulating ….are other scientists.”

Dr. Martin Chalfie later comments

“All that we do in science is subjected to peer review.”

Of course the issue as pointed it in the segment is that the peers are other scientists like them.

Watch the segment below.

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A recent post was made by a 36 year old female dentist who has recently decided to leave the profession. Of course she couldn’t just leave dentistry, she had to cut her hair http://lolabees.me/2011/11/23/the-big-reveal/ and write a post about the 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too http://lolabees.me/2011/11/28/10-reasons-your-dentist-probably-hates-you-too/

Reading over the 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too I totally see where she is coming from.

The first on her list is often patients sit down and the first thing they say is “I hate the dentist.” Other issues on her list include patients not brushing their teeth before the appointment, complaining about the size of the bill after the work was completed, failing to get a cavity or filling performed when it is recommended, not showing up or canceling at the last minute for an appointment, and denying that you grind your teeth.

Hundreds of comments follow this post and it results in a flame war.

A 19 year old female patient calls dentists “greedy basterds.”

Numerous dentists and others chime in to say that while there are some unethical dentists, this is of course the norm in any profession. If you don’t like your dentist they recommend you find a different one.

Of course the flame war wouldn’t be complete without a medical doctor chiming in with the comment

“Remember, though that at the end of the day you’re a dentist, not a real doctor.”

Somehow the discussion erupts into disputing the difference between TMJ and TMD/TMJD.

One person chimes in by saying

“You might as well call your children idiots for not knowing how to find the Lagrange multiplier equations for the point of the surface x4 + y4 + z4 + xy + yz + zx =6 at which x is largest. In fact most of you probably don’t know how to do that, dumbasses.”

Clearly a post discussing reasons why dentists hate their patients was bound to receive some comments of the like above from patients. With tensions brewing between dentist and patients and other medical professionals and patients it would seem more communication skills should be taught on both ends.

Perhaps a course or lecture should be added to schools explaining how to behave when seeing a medical professional. Of course parents need to also make sure they pass on such knowledge to their children.

Likewise dentists should look into ways to help improve communication with their patients so tensions and hatred are at a minimum.

Clearly everyone should behave more nicely on the internet

I wish this dentist well and hope that she finds passion and a sense of calling in her new career and endeavors.

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Last week an article appeared in the Post Tribune by the Chicago Sun Times titled “Tooth extraction brings unlikely complications,” written by Mark Taylor and published November 27, 2011. http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/lake/8563272-418/tooth-extraction-brings-unlikely-complications.html

A discussion is made of a 58 year old man who came down with a toothache in wisdom tooth #31. He gets an appointment with an oral surgeon who pulls the tooth. Five days later he comes down with a severe headache and begins to lose control of his right hand.

He eventually ends up at a hospital emergency room and an MRI is taken. He tells them that he just had a tooth pulled but they tell him it is a brain tumor and it has to come out.

During the surgery the doctor realizes there is no tumor and later tests show fluid in the brain which included bacteria. The man had to spend a week in the intensive care unit and 2 months in a hospital. In fact the man had an abscess and was left with ride side paralysis.

This case illustrates the need for emergency care physicians to understand complications that can occur from having a wisdom tooth removed.

It was noted that numerous government organizations such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have not studied many of the complications from teeth removal. Even the American Dental Association has not looked much at the topic.

I am not sure why this is as it would seem to be an important topic to understand and look into. I have listed many of the potential complications that can occur from wisdom teeth extractions here http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html

As noted in the article a case like this is very rare but can happen from time to time.

I also have some discussion of whether you should take antibiotics prior to a wisdom teeth extraction here http://www.teethremoval.com/antibiotic_resistance.html . 

Prophylactic antibiotics (as in giving everyone antibiotics) should not be used when having a wisdom tooth removed due to potential antibiotic resistance.

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