Wisdom Teeth

Stone Left Blind After Wisdom Teeth Removal

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Earlier this year I reported on a teenager Austin Stone who was left in a coma after having his wisdom teeth removed due to complications from a faulty medical gas system https://blog.teethremoval.com/wisdom-teeth-removalleads-to-coma/. Stone was very recently able to walk at his High School’s graduation ceremonies and receive his high school diploma.  However, he was left blind, hard of hearing, and now has speech problems. A special ceremony was arranged for him to receive his diploma and his father helped him walked to the stage. To learn more visit http://www.tonganoxiemirror.com/news/2009/sep/10/homecoming-hero/

Stronger Cavity Fillings Made from Human

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A new dental filling material uses parts from the human body for controversial ingredients in existing composite or plastic, fillings is currently being developed. The new material appears stronger and longer lasting  with the potential for reducing painful filling cracks and emergency visits to the dentist. Julian X.X. Zhu and colleagues point out that dentists increasingly are using white fillings made from plastic. This is because the traditional fillings contain mercury, which has raised health concerns  consumers and environmental issues. Even so, many plastic fillings contain controversial ingredients  linked to premature cracking of fillings and slowly release bisphenol A, which is potentially toxic to humans and the environment. The new materials developed do not contain any of these controversial or potentially harmful effects. The use bile acids which are produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder to aid … Read more

Treatment Varies Wildly Among Dentists in UK

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There is an extremely interesting article posted by Ross Slater over at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/24/private-dentists-mirror-investigation-finds-treatment-varies-wildly-115875-21619929/. The article discusses how Ross went to visit six (6) different private dentists in the UK after having not seen an NHS dentist for over a year. He wanted to see what they would say about his teeth and not all the dentists that he had no current problems with his teeth. The results were quite surprising. As the number of fillings recommended varied from zero (o) to five (5). The total bill was also wildly varied at each dentist as was the teeth that needed fillings when it was told one was needed. Read the entire article if you are interested to learn more about the varying dental care found.

Sexual Assault in the Dental Chair

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I have reported previously on two separate oral surgeons and assault of women during oral surgery. You can find the articles at https://blog.teethremoval.com/oral-surgeon-sexual-assault-acquital/ and at https://blog.teethremoval.com/sex-offense-and-assault-after-surgery/. Another case has come to light of Benva Oshana Lazar who so far has been accused by 8 patients who have said of groping during office visits. This is currently being reported in MercuryNews. Similarly one of the patients accused the San Jose dentist of groping her during a wisdom teeth extraction procedure. One of the women who is alleging  sexual abuse is 14 years old. I wonder if the judge this time will also find the dentist not guilty because the women were on “propofol” during the dentist visits and a known side affect is “sexual hallucinations”. This is a ridiculous  claim and clearly if you are a patient at the dentist you … Read more

Animals Have Room for Wisdom Teeth

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An article recently posted by Popular Science http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/do-animals-have-wisdom-teeth suggests that animals have room for wisdom teeth. An evolutionary biologist named Leslea Hlusko of the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the shape of your jaw is partially determined by what you eat when you are growing up. Since unlike animals, humans cook all the meat they eat usually and do not just tear it off raw, jaws have become smaller in size. The article also suggests that if you eat a lot of raw carrots and other tubers as a child this may help to make the jaw larger when you get older and thus better accomedate your wisdom teeth so the wisdom teeth do not have to be removed.