Wisdom Teeth

Comparing Narcotic Prescribing Habits For Oral Surgeons in the U.S. and Canada

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In a previous blog post titled “Do Oral Surgeons Prescribe Too Many Narcotics for use after Wisdom Teeth Removal?” the issue explored was that of whether or not oral surgeons prescribe more than an adequate amount of narcotic pain killers to young adults after wisdom teeth extraction. The article that found around 25% or so of the study respondents prescribe what the authors of the article declared as too many narcotics to control pain which opened the possibility of non-medical use. A new article titled “Comparison of Narcotic Prescribing Habits and Other Methods of Pain Control by Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons in the United States and Canada,” sought to explore whether Canadian oral surgeons have similar narcotic prescribing habits. This article was written by Bruce R. Pynn and Daniel M. Laskin and appeared in the December 2014 issue of the … Read more

Exploring the Risk Factors for Injury To Nerves During Wisdom Teeth Removal

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An interesting article titled “Risk Factors for Permanent Injury of Inferior Alveolar and Lingual Nerves During Third Molar Surgery,” appears in The Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, vol. 72, issue 12, and written by Edward Nguyen and et al. The article assesses the incidence of and risk factors for permanent neurologic injuries to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) or lingual nerve (LN) after wisdom teeth removal. The article states “It has been well documented in the literature that the risk factors for IAN and LN injuries include increasing age, unerupted teeth, deep impaction, distoangular impaction, irregular root morphology, lack of clinician experience, lingual flap and retraction, and radiographic signs of proximity of the third molar to the IAN canal. The main forms of altered sensation that can occur include paraesthesia, anesthesia, or dysesthesia, which may be temporary or permanent. The … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Stem Cells Could be Used For The Eye

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A new interesting study has shown that wisdom teeth stem cells could be turned into cells of the eye’s cornea. The stem cells could one day be used to repair cornea scaring due to infection or injury. Thus wisdom teeth stem cells could play a role in helping to treat corneal blindness which affects millions of people in the world. It is typically treated with transplants of donor corneas. Of course, with any transplants, shortages can occur and rejection of donor tissue can occur. This can result in permanent vision loss. Using one patient’s own stem cells from their wisdom teeth would avoid these issues. The research was conducted in association with the University of Pittsburgh. Their Department of Opthalmology showed that stem cells of dental pulp obtained from a wisdom tooth extraction could be turned into corneal stromal cells … Read more

Is Not Removing Wisdom Teeth Causing Harm?

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An interesting article titled “Is official advice about NOT pulling out wisdom teeth doing more harm than good?” appeared earlier this year in February 2015, on the DailyMail over at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2946498/Is-NHS-causing-agony-telling-dentists-not-pull-wisdom-teeth.html and written by Cara Lee. The article questions whether or not the year 2000 guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) went too far with preventing wisdom teeth extractions in teenagers and young adults. In these guidelines NICE said that the practice of prophylactic removal of pathology-free impacted third molars should be discontinued in the National Health Service in the U.K. Hence only wisdom teeth with problems should be extracted. In the article on the DailyMail there is a discussion of a 31 year old male who never had wisdom teeth extracted in his teens. Now he needs his wisdom teeth extracted and the molars … Read more

Seventeen Year Old Minnesota Teen Dies After Wisdom Teeth Extraction

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A few weeks ago in June, 2015, a 17 year old Minnesota woman died about a week after having wisdom teeth surgery. Near the end of the wisdom teeth surgery her blood pressure increased, her pulse dropped, and she went into cardiac arrest. She then was transferred to a hospital and suffered from seizures and swelling in her brain until passing about a week later. It is not clear what caused the death to occur. She could have possibly had an undisclosed heart condition that has occurred in other cases. It is possible for a patient to only become aware of an asymptomatic and abnormal heart rhythm once they come in for a surgery. I have discussed other deaths from wisdom teeth removal on this website (see http://www.teethremoval.com/death.html). Based on numerous studies and publications I have said that around 1 … Read more