Wisdom Teeth

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

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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 … Read more

Research During Residency for Oral Surgeons?

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Earlier this year over the summer an article appeared in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery discussing the attitudes of program directors and residents toward performing research during residency. I commented on this article here http://blog.teethremoval.com/the-lack-of-importance-of-research-in-oral-and-maxillofacial-surgery-residency-programs/ A new article has appeared in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Dr. James R. Hupp titled Research During Residency – Should it be Mandated? (vol. 69, pages 2685-2687, 2011). In the article is a discussion of research and whether or not it should be performed by oral surgeons in residency. Dr. Hupp discuses his own experience with research work and then questions if the current accreditation standards require all Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residents to do research. He says: “Now the question becomes, should our standards require all residents to have the opportunity to conduct research and, in my … Read more

Do I Really Need to Remove My Wisdom Teeth?

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A few days ago an article titled “Do I Really Need to Remove My Wisdom Teeth? appeared in Community Magazine by Jacques Doueck located at http://www.communitym.com/article.asp?article_id=101936  The article opens with “I was prompted to write this article because of two adult patients who suffered severe damage, infection, and swelling because they delayed taking out wisdom teeth. One of them actually broke his jaw because of a wisdom tooth that should have been removed long ago. The patient, 48 years old, lost both teeth and the fractured jaw forced him to eat baby food for six months. The other patient was 65 years old and had to have the wisdom tooth and the adjacent molar removed.” This opening in this article kind of cracks me up because both of these patients are quite old, especially the 65 year old. Of course we … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Advice and New Dental Schools

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A new article in the New York Times titled “Wisdom of Having that Tooth Removed” written by Roni Caryn Rabin published September 5, 2011, is an interesting articles for those considering whether or not to have healthy wisdom teeth extracted. The article is located at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06consumer.html The article explores some of the issues regarding whether or not you should or not have have healthy wisdom teeth extracted. The article discusses how the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) held a press conference back in October of 2010, http://www.aaoms.org/docs/media/third_molars/key_findings.pdf (dead 10/14/19), in which one of the key findings was “Retained, asymptomatic wisdom teeth are eventually extracted between 25% and almost 70% of the time.” The author of the New York Times article questioned AAOMS on this statement which appeared on their website. The response from AAOMS was “Yet when … Read more

Why People Hate the Dentist

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Numerous posts on the internet have attempted to shed light on the why people hate the dentist. Tom over at OralAnswers.com has a two part series on why people hate the dentists located at http://www.oralanswers.com/2011/09/why-people-hate-the-dentist/ and http://www.oralanswers.com/2011/09/why-people-hate-the-dentist-my-theory-part-ii/ Dr. Joe Bulger DDS in Canada changed the name of his blog to hatedentists.com and his written several posts on the topic of people who hate dentists located at http://www.hatedentists.com/1319/hate-dentist/ , http://www.hatedentists.com/1326/dentist-haters/ , and http://www.hatedentists.com/1363/top-10-reasons-people-hate-dentists/ SaneDentist.com has a post by Dr. Mujtaba Ali regarding 5 reasons why people hate the dentist located at http://www.sanedentist.com/here-are-5-reasons-why-we-hate-the-dentist-and-what-a-dentist-thinks-about-them.html Reading, over these posts and potential explanations for hate towards the dentist just doesn’t seem to do the hate justice and doesn’t touch on all the issues. So here are some reasons why I think people really hate dentists (subjective opinion): 1) Being motivated by money to the point … Read more