Intravenous Ketamine During Surgery

A review articled carried out by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews titled “Perioperative intravenous ketamine for acute postoperative pain in adults” written by Brinck et al. in 2018 (no. 12, art. no. CD012033) explored the efficacy and safety of intravenous ketamine in adults for pain management while having surgery under general anesthesia. The authors sought randomized, double-blind, controlled trials for inclusion in their analysis. The main outcomes were opioid consumption and pain intensity at 24 and 48 hours after surgery. The authors included 130 studies with 8,341 participants. Types of surgery included wisdom teeth extraction and among many others like lumbar fusion surgery, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair, abdominal surgery, and elective caesarean section. The researchers found by looking at 65 of these studies that perioperative intravenous ketamine reduced postoperative opioid consumption over 24 hours by 8 mg morphine … Read more

What are Dental Extractions?

Dental extractions are the process of removing teeth. They typically are not painful. Dental extractions can range in difficulty depending on factors including position, anatomy, and density of bone. They can be simple or complicated, requiring a surgical approach. A dental anesthetic is used to freeze the extraction site to prevent pain during dental extraction. Patients usually have mild discomfort following dental extraction that can be relieved with pain killers such as Ibuprofen. What Are Dental Extractions? Teeth are extracted when they aren’t performing their normal functions. These could include teeth that would cost too much to repair or teeth with deep decay which could damage nerves and other healthy teeth in your mouth if they were left untreated. Sometimes dental extractions are necessary for orthodontic purposes. Extractions can range in difficulty depending on factors including position, anatomy, and density … Read more

Should you Delay a Tooth Extraction if you recently had COVID-19 (Coronavirus)?

An interesting article titled “Cavernous sinus thrombosis and blindness in a recovered (COVID-19) patient post simple tooth extraction: A case report,” is scheduled to appear in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and currently available in pre-proof form, written by Mohamed Abdelmoiz, Ahmed Nagi Alghandour, and Amr Gibaly (2022). The article discusses a case report the authors document where a man lost vision in one eye after having a tooth extracted after he had recently recovered from COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Based on this article the authors feel that patients who had recently had COVID-19 and also have diabetes should delay having tooth extractions performed for a period of time after recovering from COVID-19. In the article, the authors describe a 69 year old man with well managed diabetes who was admitted to a hospital due having hypoxia and fever. He was … Read more

Benefits and Risks of Medical Interventions

An interesting article titled “Reaping the Benefits and Avoiding the Risks: UnrealisticOptimism in the Health Domain,” by Hanoch et al. in Risk Analysis, Oct. 4 2018, discusses how people may not be able to accurately perceive the risks and benefits associated with medical interventions. The article looked at 373 adults ages 19 to 76 from the U.S. The participants were asked five scenarios focused only on the benefits. Participants were asked to imagine their doctor had recommended some treatment, this included a drug, dental surgery, ear surgery, kidney operation, or to take a new medication. The participants were also asked to imagine that their doctor had recommended a treatment for a flu (a drug), a life threatening illness (a drug), a fall (knee surgery), depression (anti-depression medication), and a heart problem (heart bypass surgery). The article states the patients were … Read more

4 Serious Infections You Can Pick Up in Hospital

A common concern from patients who are undergoing surgery is the risk of infection at the site of their surgery, particularly caused by bacteria that are commonly found in hospitals. While hospitals and operating theatres are kept spotlessly clean to an obsessive level and the risk of these infections is very low and made even lower by proper post-operative wound care, knowing about the common ones and how to spot them can be beneficial. Even if you do happen to pick up a bacterial infection, they are almost always easily treatable, apart from these few which might mean a longer hospital stay. Royalty Free Photo Staphylococcus Aureus The staph infection is one of, if not the most notorious hospital-acquired infections on this list. You might be surprised to learn that about one-third of us actually carry the Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria … Read more