Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth could hold regenerative medicine answers

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An interesting article titled “A single-cell atlas of human teeth” written by Pierfrancesco Pagella et al. appears in iScience (vol. 24, no. 102405, May 21, 2021). In the article the researchers analyzed five wisdom teeth that had been extracted to conduct a comprehensive single-cell atlas of the human tooth. The cells studied came from these five wisdom teeth and were extracted by dentists in Zurich. Isolating the cells from these wisdom teeth may have introduced variability between samples and some cells may not have survived the isolation process. Even so, the study found novel insights into how stem cells work which could help answer questions in regenerative medicine. In the study, the researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich used single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate cells present in dental pulp and the periodontium. The researchers compared patterns of … Read more

Womans toothache that led to Wisdom Teeth Removal Turns out to be Cancer

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A 29 year old woman in Scotland began to experience pain in her mouth in September 2020 and also felt a pea-sized lump on her jawline. She thought the pain and problems were due to not having wisdom teeth extracted and that an infection had developed. She later had four wisdom teeth extracted Glasgow Dental Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, and then spent 12 months on antibiotics. After the wisdom teeth were removed she continued to have a swollen gland or lymph node and she continued to feel something was not quite right. In January 2021, he went in for a biopsy and CT scan. Four days after these tests were done she was told she had a cancerous lump and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma cancer. She started chemotherpay in early March 2021. She later had to have bone reconstruction, skin grafts … Read more

Do Wisdom Teeth Surgery Informational Videos Decrease Anxiety?

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An interesting article titled “Does Viewing a Third Molar Informed Consent Video Decrease Patients’ Anxiety?” appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 2018 written by Laskin et al. (vol. 76, pp. 2515-2517). The article discusses a study of 100 patients having impacted wisdom teeth removed and if watching a video during the informed consent process makes them more or less anxious. The authors were interested in such a study because in the past watching a video during the informed consent process of wisdom teeth removal has decreased anxiety in some cases but in other cases has increased anxiety. Further, if patients are more anxious prior to surgery they can be uncooperative which can cause the surgeon stress and lead to longer surgeries. In the study, 100 patients between 18 and 35 years of age having impacted wisdom … Read more

Loss of Vision After Tooth Extraction

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An interesting article titled “A case report on loss of vision secondary to odontogenic orbital cellulitis” appears in Advances in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by A. Ghaesemi and H. Jones (vol. 4, 2021). The article discusses a case of a woman who lost vision after having a tooth extracted. In the article a discussion is made of a 54 year old woman who went to the hopsital after experiencing three days of left-sided periorbital swelling, nasal discharge, and increasing facial pain. She began to experience these symptoms after having a symptomatic tooth removed. When she arrived at the emergency department she had a left eye that was protruding with extensive conjunctival hyperemia, had restricted eye movements, had a rapid heartbeat, and said that she was increasingly having bluriness in her left eye. A few hours later she lost her … Read more

Recommendations on Accidental Displacement of a Wisdom Tooth

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One of the complications associated with wisdom teeth removal is the accidental displacement of the wisdom tooth. This has been discussed in the post Computer Assisted Retrieval of Accidentally Displaced Wisdom Teeth and as a complication over at http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html. There are many places in the human body a wisdom tooth can end up in accidentally during surgery such as the maxillary sinus, submandibular space, sublingual space, infratemporal fossa, lateral pharyngeal space, and pterygomandibular space. In an article titled “Accidental displacement of third molars; report of three cases, review of literature and treatment recommendation” written by Anand and Patel appearing in Oral Surgery in 2013 (vol. 6, pp. 2-8) a discussion is made of three cases of displacement of a wisdom tooth during tooth extraction along with treatment recommendations. In the article the authors describe the most common sites of displacement … Read more