wisdom teeth surgery

Oral Surgeon Opioid Prescribing Habits in the US during 2016 to 2019

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An interesting article titled “Opioid prescribing by oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the United States, 2016–2019” written by Tumader Khouj, Deborah E. Polk, and Katie J. Suda, appears in the October 9th, 2022, issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry. The article describes opioid prescribing trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMFS) in the United States during 2016 to 2019. In the past on this site several articles have covered opioid prescribing habits, see for example Assessing the Impact of Three Day Opioids Limits for Dentists, Insurance Companies Limiting Access to Opioids After Wisdom Teeth Surgery, Reducing Opioids in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Dentists Overprescribing Opioids to Adults in the U.S.. In the article, the authors conducted a retrospective analysis of IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Dataset (LRx) from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019, that includes 92% of … Read more

Dentist suspended after patient died after teeth extraction

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A dentist in the state of Washington has had their dentistry license suspended over allegations of unsafe practices after a patient died while having multiple teeth removed in 2022. The patient had a significant medical history and was having teeth extracted in June 2022 in advance of a scheduled heart valve surgery. The patient was under moderate sedation for abot five minutes before a drop in oxygen-saturation level, heart rate and blood pressure. The patient had hypertensive cardiovascular disease, valvular heart disease, congestive heart failure, pulmonary emphysema, chronic disease, diabetes, and obesity. In advance of the extractions the dentist had received medical clearance from the patient’s primary care provider but the dentist had not talked to any other doctors treating the patient. During the day of the extractions, the patient was given articaine, lidocaine, triazolam, midazolam, decadron, and cefazolin. Roughly … Read more

Man with infected wisdom tooth dies several weeks later

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In early 2021, a man 44 years of age living in Auckland in New Zealand, died a few weeks after being aware of having an infected wisdom tooth. He first complained of having pain in his lower right wisdom tooth on Christmas Eve in 2020. He went to see a doctor about it several times over many days for swelling and pain and was given antibiotics. He was unable to swallow the pills so was given liquid antibiotics instead but nothing seemed to help with the infection. Later the pain and swelling in his face and neck became progressively worse. He went to the hospital on January 4, 2021. While in the hospital he had x-rays taken and was later discharged. The family was shocked to hear that the man was able to get discharged that soon. He was sent … Read more

Surgery Free Wisdom Tooth Bud Ablation Treatment To One Day Replace Surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Fully Guided Tooth Bud Ablation in Pigs Results in Complete Tooth Bud Removal and Molar Agenesis” appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Leigh E. Colby and David P. Watson, Vol. 81, Issue 4, pp. 456-466, Apr. 2023, Published Dec. 16, 2022. The article seems to be a follow-up to a prior article discussed on this site in the post “Tooth bud abalation of wisdom teeth may be alternative to surgery in the future“. That study had shown that fully guided microwave tooth bud ablation (3TBA) could be used to successfully remove wisdom tooth tooth buds without damaging surrounding tissues in a study with 5 pigs. The most recent study used a 28-day longitudinal characterization study to determine if healing response following fully guided microwave ablation of tooth buds in pigs would result in … Read more

Iatrogenic Fracture of the Mandibular Angle During Wisdom Tooth Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Iatrogenic Fracture of the Mandibular Angle During Excision of an Impacted Third Molar” appears in Cureus in August 04, 2022, written by Agrawal P, Jadhav A, Bhola N D (vol. 14, no. 8, pp. e27672). The article discusses a case of a 30 year old woman who had atrogenic mandibular angle fracture after having an impacted wisdom tooth removed. In the article, the authors mention of a 30 year old woman visited their outpatient department complaining of pain and swelling over the lower right side of her face with an inability to open her mouth and chew for the last four days. Prior to this, she had her lower right impacted wisdom tooth removed under local anesthesia. On exam, the woman was found to have an asymmetrical face due to swelling over the lower right region … Read more