alveolar osteitis

Management and Risks of Dry Socket After Wisdom Teeth Removal

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An interesting article titled “Alveolar osteitis: a critical review of the aetiology and management” written by Veale appears in the 2015 edition of Oral Surgery (vol. 8, pp. 68-77). The article attempts to provide guidance on the best treatment and prevention of alveolar osteitis more commonly known as dry socket. Dry socket is a common complication after wisdom teeth removal that typically occurs around 2 to 4 days after surgery. With dry socket there is a total or partial loss of the blood clot from the socket, which results in an inflammatory response and intense pain. Dry socket is believed to occur up to 5% of the time after a wisdom tooth extraction and some studies show it more often occurs after a lower wisdom tooth removal. In the article many risks factors of dry socket are attempted to be … Read more

What is the Likelihood of Dry Socket After Wisdom Teeth Removal?

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An interesting article titled “A re-audit to assess the incidence of alveolar osteitis within the Oral Surgery Department of a teaching hospital” appears in the 2017 edition of Oral Surgery written by Qalandari and Dargue (vol. 10, pp. e22-e29). In the article a discussion is made of determining the chances of experiencing dry socket after wisdom teeth removal in the oral surgery department of a hospital in Britain. Alveolar osteitis is the official name for what is commonly known as dry socket and is a common complication after wisdom teeth surgery. Dry socket is when there is pain in and around the extraction site after surgery which increases in intensity between one and three days after surgery and there is also a partially or totally disintegrated blood clot within the socket. The authors were interested in what the current incidence … Read more

Are female patients using oral contraceptives undergoing wisdom teeth removal at higher risk of dry socket?

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An interesting article titled “A higher incidence of dry socket may be related to the use of oral contraceptives after impacted mandibular third-molar extraction” appears in the Oct. 2016 issue of JADA by Yumi Ogata and Yong Hur (Volume 147, Issue 10, pp. 840-842). The article discusses some of the issues surrounding whether in female patients undergoing impacted mandibular wisdom teeth removal, if the use of oral contraceptives increase the incidence of alveolar osteitis (also known as dry socket) when compared with female patients who do not use oral contraceptives. The researchers explore 3 electronic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Elsevier ScienceDirect) for relevant articles published up to April 2014. Two reviewers independently conducted quality assessments of the included studies by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and resolve any disagreements through consensus with a third reviewer. The authors included 12 articles that reported on … Read more