Patient Stress Impact on Tooth Extraction Complications

An interesting article titled “The potential role of patient stress in rates of dental post-extraction complication” written by McDowall appears in the 2014 edition of Oral Surgery (vol. 7, pp. 162-167). The article explores whether stress, alcohol and tobacco use impacts the complication rate experienced after a tooth extraction. The authors recruited patients for the study who were at least 16 years old and having at least one tooth extracted. The patients were asked to fill out questionnaires incorporating the Global Measure of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST) and questions related to tobacco use. The PSS consists of fourteen questions designed to determine how stressful the persons life is and higher scores indicated greater perceived stress. The FAST consists of four questions designed to determine the frequency too much alcohol consumption and higher scores indicate … Read more

Illinois Man Dies From Too Much Anesthesia While Having Teeth Extracted

A 51 year old man from Illinois died after having five teeth extacted in July 2021. He had has teeth extracted by an oral surgeon in Lake County which is North of Chicago. During the procedure he was given as given a single dose of 200 milligrams propofol. There was no anesthesiologist present and the oral surgeon was the one also administrating the anesthesia. During the tooth extractions, the man stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Emergency responders were called and when they arrived took the man to a hospital where he died the next day. According to statements from the Lake County Coroner there was too high of a dose of propofol given and this dose would cause a person to not breathe. Further, the oral surgeon did not supply supplemental oxygen until the tooth extractions were already … Read more

FDA warns about dental problems from buprenorphine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety concern regarding the medication buprenorphine which is a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, acute pain, and chronic pain. Buprenorphine is often used to reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms and the desire to use opioids, without causing the cycle of highs and lows associated with abusing opioid. The FDA warning issued on January 12, 2022, states that dental problems have occured when patients take medicines containing buprenorphine that are dissolved in the mouth. In the warning, the FDA said that the dental problems can include those of tooth decay, cavities, loss of teeth, and oral infections, and can occur in those without prior dental issues. As a result of this warning, the risk of dental problems occuring will be added to the prescribing information and the patient Medication Guide … 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

Flying after Wisdom Teeth Removal

After having wisdom teeth removal some patients like to know if it is okay for them to fly on an airplane. Depending on whom one turns to for advice it is possible to receive mixed messages regarding if it is safe to fly or not after wisdom teeth surgery. According to one article titled “Cabin crew reveal the one thing you should NEVER do before flying” by Elly Blake appearing in the Express (Feb. 15, 2018) having any sort of dental work 24 to 48 hours prior to a flight could be dangerous according to airplane cabin crew. They said that in horror stories some passengers have reported unimaginable pain caused by changes in air pressure due to altitude changes which impact small pockets of gas trapped in teeth. However, in other cases people have reported feeling just fine flying … Read more