Health

Has the FDA Warning for Children Under Three Affected General Anesthesia Use in Dentistry?

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An interesting article titled “Prolonged General Anesthesia in a Pediatric Population” was presented on July 21, 2021, at the virtual session of the 2021 International Association for Dental Research (IADR)/AADR/CADR General Session written by Mary Younan and et al. The research sets to investigate if use of prolonged general anesthesia amongst pediatric dental patients has changed since 2016 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came out with guidance that said 3 or more hours of anesthetic exposure, may be a risk factor for cognitive defects, particularly for pediatric patients under 3 years of age. The researchers attempeted to see if a difference exists in the proportion of pediatric dental cases with general anesthesia time 180 minutes pre-FDA to post-FDA warning and to use a root cause analysis to identify factors that contribute to prolonged general anestehsia exposure of children … Read more

Grant Awarded to Help Improve How Primary Care Doctors Apply Fluoride Varnish on Kids Teeth

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A grant in the amount of $424,000 was awarded for researchers at Kennesaw State University in Georgia to study how flouride varnish is applied to kids teeth. The grant was awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in particular to explore how pediatricians apply fluoride varnish to kids teeth. The grant is for a three year period of time. It is the first NIH grant awarded soley to Kennesaw State. Fluoride varnishis applied to help reduce decay for both primary teeth and permanent teeth and thus can help improve oral health. In the U.S. insurance pays for pediatricians to apply fluoride varnish to young children. Even so it has been reported that only 4% of pediatricians report regularly applying fluoride varnish to the primary teeth of infants and children. Due to affordability issues many children particulary under three years … Read more

Oral surgeon must pay 2.75 million in malpractice case for dental surgery gone wrong

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An oral surgeon has been ordered to pay $2.75 million in a medical malpractice case that nearly killed a 32 year old man. The trial had been delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the oral surgeon refused to negiotiate any type of settlement with the patient. In 2018, the man was refered to the oral surgeon for removal of his lower left wisdom tooth. During the his first appointment, the man had a panoramic x-ray of his mouth. When the oral surgeon reviewed the x-ray he noticied a radiolucency near the man’s lower left wisdom tooth. The oral surgeon then had the man undergo a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan and suggested a biopsy to determine whether the lesion was cancerous. When a radiologist reviewed the CBCT san he said it was suboptical because IV contrast had … Read more

Robotic technology for dental implants

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Oral surgeons are now using a robotic guidance system to assist with dental surgery for tooth implantation. The YOMI Robotic Dental System made by Neocis is the first FDA cleared robotic device for dental surgery for dental implants. The dental robot helps dentists and oral surgeons map out and customize a treatment plan individualized for each patient. The robot help to augment the clinical expertise of skilled implant dentistry teams. The dental robot helps to elimate any guesswork when it comes to the surgery and is able to show exactly the the depth, cutting position and needed angles the procedure needs to achieve the most optimal results. The dental robot acts like a guide and still allows the operator to modify the treatment plan if needed. The dental robot allows for dentits and oral surgeons to operate more quickly and more … Read more

Parents Sue After Three Year Old Kansas Boy Died from Dental Work

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In July 2021, a three year old boy died after having dental work done in Kansas. A few months later the parents filed a lawsuit against the the dentist, the dental office, the nurse anesthetist, and the anesthesia company. The young boy needed to have some teeth removed due to a gum infection. He went with his mother to two dental offices in southwest Kansas to help choose a dental office. Ultimately a dental office was chosen in Wichita, Kansas which was four hours from their home. According to the timeline of events in the lawsuit, during the boy’s dental work he was given anesthesia with propofol and ketamine by the nurse anesthetist at 7:15 A.M. Around 8 AM the boy was given another dose of propofol by the nurse anesthetist. Around the same time the nurse anesthetist noticed an … Read more