The Defensive Patients Guide to Wisdom Teeth Removal

Medical doctors are often accused of practicing what is known as defensive medicine. With defensive medicine, a doctor will deviate from the normal practice of medicine in order to perform a medical treatment or run a diagnostic test in order to reduce potential exposure to a malpractice lawsuit. This leads to treatments and tests that are not clinically necessary and is often said to be a cause of overtesting and overtreatment. Defensive medicine is discussed as serving to protect the physician from a lawsuit by the patient. What is not discussed is the idea that a patient can also practice defensive medicine to protect the patient from losing a legitimate lawsuit against the physician. Applying this concept to wisdom teeth surgery, the following is suggested for a patient to help protect themselves from losing a legitimate lawsuit against a physician, … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Tweets From Twitter

In the past some wisdom teeth related tweets from Twitter have been shared on this site. See for example the posts Wisdom Teeth Removal: Tweets from Twitter and Indications for Removal of Wisdom Teeth. Below are some more recent wisdom teeth related tweets that have been shared on Twitter. 1. Related to Dry Socket 2. Related to Growing Pains 3. Related to Nerve Damage 4. Related to Sinus Complications Hopefully you found the above tweets interesting and or relevant. From the tweets many people were not happy about experiencing dry socket after having wisdom teeth removed. Others were not happy with pain and/or headaches experienced when their wisdom teeth are growing in. Still others had concerns about nerve damage from having wisdom teeth extracted. Further other tweets were related to sinus complications experience after having a wisdom tooth extracted. If … Read more

Sepsis After Wisdom Teeth Removal

Earlier in 2019 a case was described of a 25 year old woman from England who developed sepsis after having an infected wisdom teeth removed, see the post Risks of Keeping Wisdom Teeth: Infected Wisdom Tooth Removal Leads to Sepsis. However, having healthy wisdom teeth removed can also lead to sepsis. In May 2019, a 20 year Wisconsin woman had all four wisdom teeth removed along with a few other teeth in order to allow for orthodontic treatment. Specifically the woman was addressing having her teeth straightened and correcting an overbite. The day after the surgery the woman’s sister was concerned with her appearance and swelling and had her go to an emergency room at a hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital the woman had a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit and a very low blood pressure. The 20 year old … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Removal Leads to Trigeminal Neuralgia and Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome dysfunction

A now 25 year old Canadian woman has been left with Trigeminal Neuralgia and Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome dysfunction as a result of wisdom teeth surgery that occurred in July 2016. The woman’s joints in her jaw are described as deteriorating and has led to osteoarthritis. She has bone on bone grinding of her condyle against her upper jaw. The woman’s brother said that the Trigeminal Neuralgia left pain so excruciating that the woman would sometimes be screaming at the top of her lungs for 8 hours a day. The woman was enrolled in nursing school at the time of the surgery. She was able to complete school with some accommodation by her university but has not started working. Even so, the medical bills have added up. After the wisdom tooth surgery the woman made several trips to the emergency room, … Read more

Risks of Keeping Wisdom Teeth: Infected Wisdom Tooth Removal Leads to Sepsis

Recently a case of a 25 year old woman from England who developed an infected wisdom tooth has been reported. The woman had the infected wisdom tooth removed in December 2018 after repeated infections had developed. Unfortunately the surgery was eventful and the woman developed complications. Two days after the extraction the woman was not able to hold down any food nor any water. She was urged to go to a hospital by a doctor and spent four days at a hospital. While at the hospital she went into septic shock and was diagnosed with sepsis. She was given intravenous antibiotics and liquids. It was believed that when the wisdom tooth was removed the infection that was present went into her bloodstream. When she was released from the hospital the woman was given six different medications to take. Roughly six … Read more