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One Star Yelp Reviews on Wisdom Teeth

Posted on 04. Feb, 2012 by wisdom.

In this post I will examine some recent 1 star reviews of a dental and/or oral surgery practice on Yelp and some of the comments received.

At an office in Seattle, Washington, a women writes in her review on Yelp

“ I am still upset about what happened. It is a very long and disturbing story. Basically – [the doctor] performed the surgery in a very cold room [on my 19 year old daughter] and seriously damaged a muscle in her jaw. Within 24 hours after surgery she could not open her mouth more than a quarter inch….the doctors determined that she had a massive infection in her jaw and immediately put her on IV antibiotics….it took FOUR months for the damage to heal & for her to be able to open her mouth normally!”

At a dental center in Virginia a male says in his review on Yelp

“…they recommended I have 4 wisdom teeth removed, claiming that there ‘was not room in my mouth to accommodate them and that they were going to cause teeth to twist.’ My wisdom teeth came in years ago and it’s ridiculous to say that they could cause my teeth to get worse in [the] future. As was confirmed by the family dentist I went to for a second opinion.”

At a dental center in Chicago, Illinois, a female says in her review on Yelp

“The dentist here attempted to remove one of my wisdom teeth and DIDN’T REMOVE THE ENTIRE ROOT! After 45 minutes of wrenching, me in the fetal position…I ended up in the ER 6 hours later where I spent 5 hours waiting for an antibiotic I was told I should have got with my original dentist, an oral surgeon the next day for another 45 minutes of wrenching, and eventually ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery a week later. All said and done–I spent 4 1/2 weeks getting well again, including having to retrain my jaw to open more than an inch….The most nightmarish experience of my life. “

At an oral surgeons office in St. Louis, Missouri, a person says in their review on Yelp

“ I asked him to clarify what kind of anesthesia he was going to use.  He immediately became defensive, telling me that I wasn’t his first ‘med student’ and rattling off all the kinds of medical professional he’s treated…After my procedure I had three complications, two significant (known complications of wisdom tooth removal, but considering the time from car door to car door for four impacted wisdom teeth with general anesthesia was 30 minutes, I do wonder if due diligence was taken to avoid complications. When I brought up the significant complication at my follow-up visit… he gave me a bogus explanation for my symptoms.  When I challenged him on the anatomic impossibility of his explanation given the location and type of symptoms I was having, he again became very defensive instead of attempting to understand the issue.”

At a dental center in Massachusetts a woman writes on her review on Yelp

 ”They didn’t inform me that I would be getting no anesthesia for my wisdom teeth and on the day of the procedure when I explained that Novocaine has never worked on me, they guilted me into doing it anyhow “well you scheduled this time with us, you’ve already paid, etc. etc.”.  I SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER THROUGH THE ENTIRE PROCEDURE and kept asking them to please stop, but they only rolled their eyes and yelled “KEEP STILL” at me.  After the procedure, my entire neck was black and blue and I was so swollen that I couldn’t open my mouth to eat for 2 weeks. 2 years later, and I still can’t feel the right side of my mouth, and I have nerve damage so deep in my jaw that it affects my arms and legs, so I have constant numbness there too.”

At a dental center in Phoenix, Arizona, a woman writes on her review on Yelp

“…when my son was …there, and before his wisdom teeth come in, they suggested his wisdom teeth come out, with no reasoning.  (but later whispered to him not a problem, they should be fine…).  He has had all his ortho (at another office) the Dr. there never thought they would become an issue.  HEY!  how about we see if, when they erupt, if there appears to be a problem, or any crowding? “

For the same dental center as above in Phoenix, Arizona, a man writes in his review on Yelp

“First, my wisdom teeth extraction was botched when I was left with a bone fragment floating inside my cheek/gum for 16 months. I complained multiple times regarding the pain and issue. I went into the office for at least 4 follow-ups and yet not once did a dentist take an X-Ray or even really offer my help. Instead I was recommended to spend an additional $150.00 for a deep cleaning. When the bone finally came out the Dr notified me this is very common… right….. “

For a dental practice in Maryland a man writes in his review on Yelp

“First off let me preface this by saying I am a physician myself so I know how to deal with patients….the Dr. then talked to me for all of 2 minutes about why I needed all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed when only 1 is causing a problem – and he barely answered my questions. Finally when I went back for my surgery I decided to have 2 teeth removed instead of 4 (the staff seemed like that bothered them), and when I went to pay they wanted to charge me the same amount for half the work!  I canceled the surgery after I heard the Dr. arguing in the back with the billing woman about the numbers she herself quoted me on. She comes back 5 min later and says oops i forgot to charge you for extra anesthesia. “

This is just a sampling of some unfortunate 1 star reviews received by dentists and/or oral surgeons on Yelp. Some of these reviews really can get quite out of hand. I am not sure what the best way is to prevent 1 star reviews on Yelp but clearly no patients want to have to write them and no doctors want to have them. Having good customer service and focusing on providing a quality service is a start. Certainly working to continually improving your skills can help.  Unfortunately though as long as dental care is driven by profits and there is a very litigious society it may be hard to make improvements in the correct direction.

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Music to Listen to After Wisdom Teeth Removal: Christian Music

Posted on 17. Dec, 2011 by wisdom.

Continuing on with some music to listen to after your wisdom teeth removal I have added some excellent christian music below.  I have previously posted entries on some music you can listen to after having your wisdom teeth extracted. See this post http://blog.teethremoval.com/music-to-listen-to-after-wisdom-teeth-removal-rock-and-roll-songs/ for some great rock and roll songs and also see this post http://blog.teethremoval.com/music-to-listen-to-after-wisdom-teeth-removal-youtube-musicians/ for some excellent musicians on YouTube who are worth a listen. Further see this post http://blog.teethremoval.com/music-to-listen-to-after-wisdom-teeth-removal-jazz-songs for some talented Jazz musicians.

Hillsong United – Mighty to Save

Newsboys – Shine

Michael W. Smith – Open the Eyes of my Heart

Chris Tomlin – Our God is Greater

Jesus Culture – Oh Happy Day

Jeremy Camp – This Man

MercyMe – I Can Only Imagine

Matthew West – You Are Everything

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What to Do about the Fourth Molar: Similar Management Strategies as the Third Molar aka Wisdom Tooth?

Posted on 08. Nov, 2011 by wisdom.

So wisdom teeth are also known as third molars but did you know that there are also fourth molars in a small subset of patients?

A recent study was performed by the United States at an Air Base in Japan which is currently in press to appear in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery titeld Prevalence and Management of Fourth Molars: A Retrospective Study and Literature Review by Khurram M. Shahzad and Lawrence E. Roth, 2011.

In the study conducted 409 patients were referred for a third molar (wisdom teeth) consultation. Two of 227 white patients (0.9%) had a fourth molar and 6 of 94 black patients (6.4%) had a fourth molar. One of the other 84 patients (1.2%) also had a fourth molar.

Of these patients with a fourth molar 5 out of 9 (55%) had only 1 fourth molar and 4 out of 9 (45%) had 2 fourth molars. In 7 of the 9 (78%) of the patients the fourth molars were in the maxilla (upper) and in 2 of the 9 patients (22%) the fourth molars were in the mandible (lower). No patients had fourth molars in both the maxilla and mandible.

All of the mandibular (lower)  fourth molars were found to be smaller than the mandible (lower) wisdom teeth but similar in their shape. While the maxillary (upper) fourth molars were smaller than the maxillary (upper) wisdom teeth but appeared with a peg shape which did not represent the shape of the wisdom teeth.

The prevalence in this study of fourth molars was 2.2% and this is similar to the prevalence found from a few other studies were it was between 1% and 2%.

The authors recommend:

“The presence of fourth molars as well as the risks and benefits of extraction versus observation should be discussed with the patients and an individualized treatment plan should be fabricated.”

The authors comment that fhe fourth molars have a possibility of being displaced in the infratemporal fossa or the maxillary sinus during surgery and note that this is more likely to occur if the bone distal to the fourth molars is thin. (Note these are known complications of wisdom teeth removal as discussed on the complications page http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html)

The authors of course recommend that each patient should have a panoramic x-ray and/or computerized tomography performed.

The authors also say it is even possible to remove a third molar (wisdom tooth) and leave the fourth molar in place which may allow the fourth molar to migrate down and after some time (a few years) a safer extraction can be performed.

Of course the risks of leaving a fourth molar are similar as leaving a third molar (wisdom tooth) for observation http://www.teethremoval.com/risks_of_keeping_wisdom_teeth.html

Below I have added the 2 panoramic radiographs that are in the journal article and I have added some labels for the fourth molars.

Looking at these x-rays removing a fourth molar appears to be even more risky than removing a third molar (wisdom tooth), so hopefully you are fortunate enough to not have a fourth molar.

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How to Improve Your Chances to Win a Dental Malpractice Lawsuit

Posted on 20. Oct, 2011 by wisdom.

Tom over at OralAnswers has previously written a post on how to win a dental malpractice suit http://www.oralanswers.com/2010/07/sue-your-dentist-and-win-malpractice-lawsuit/

I also discuss on my U.S. Legal System and Medical Malpractice page http://www.teethremoval.com/legal_system_medical_malpractice the 4 elements you must prove to have a chance at winning a malpractice suit.

(1) the doctor to provide a standard of care to patients in the locality where the treatment occured (legal duty)

(2) the doctor breached that standard of care

(3) an injury causing damages

(4) the breach of the standard of care was the proximate cause of the injury.

Now as is quite clear on my site I disagree with the current ‘standard of care’ of removing healthy wisdom teeth in young healthy patients in the U.S. This is not the standard of care in the U.K.

I wanted to touch on an additional element in this post to help improve your chances of winning a dental malpractice lawsuit due to the aggressive tactics employed by dentists, oral surgeons, and their staff to prevent lawsuits.

As indicated on my complications page, my personal experience, and doing additional research on Yelp of wisdom teeth extraction oral surgeon reviews, it is quite clear that patients who experience symptoms and complications after having wisdom teeth extracted are sometimes told things to the effect of:

The condition was not related to the surgery, or the problems were not related to the oral surgery, or send us your follow up results/testing from a medical doctor so we can determine IF your problems are related to the oral surgery as we have not heard of that complication happening before.

Remember that dentists and oral surgeons are in the business of pulling out teeth and are hence after profit and protecting themselves from liability which all too often is at the expense of making the patient receiving  fair compensation.

When I discussed my complication of a 24/7 headache that started roughly 2 days after having 4 healthy wisdom teeth extracted with a lawyer it was suggested to me that there WAS NO WAY TO PROVE I DIDN’T HIT MY HEAD ON THE WAY OUT OF THE OFFICE OR SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED BETWEEN THE ORAL SURGERY AND THE ONSET OF THE HEADACHE. I was unable to receive any compensation for my injuries and continue to have a 24/7 headache and my surgery occurred over 5 years ago.

The only feasible way I see to get around a lot of these issues is to VIDEO TAPE THE ORAL SURGERY AND ALL EVENTS AFTERWARDS FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL DAYS.

I would personally recommend bringing in multiple friends and family members to the oral surgery and video tape the extractions from multiple angles. You will also need to ensure you have at least 1 video camera on you at all times for like I said at least a few days after the surgery.

Now let’s be honest some dentists and oral surgeons will not be welcoming to having multiple people video taping the surgery but this is really the only way within the current confines of the law to help protect yourself and increase your chances of winning a potential suit if a complication were to occur.

Look if your dentist or oral surgeon won’t let you video tape the surgery then I would find a different one or maybe feed them some BS excuse for taping the surgery such as for a class project or something.  Otherwise I would resort to possibly bugging the oral surgeons or dentists office or hiding cameras or something in your clothes.

Current scientific evidence doesn’t support or refute having healthy wisdom teeth extracted http://www.teethremoval.com/controversy.html and this is an elective procedure. If you are going to have it done at least provide yourself the additional evidence of video tape of the event and events following the surgery to help increase your chances of a successful lawsuit if things don’t go as you would hope.

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Which Caption Will You Choose: Wisdom Teeth To Remove or Not?

Posted on 28. Jul, 2011 by wisdom.

Flickr Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/joebeone/5016877623/ and has a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

This post is by no means realistic. These images are fake. However real tactics like these have actually been used before by the drug industry as a form of disease mongering although not applied to the wisdom teeth debate to my knowledge.

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