Wisdom Teeth

Percutaneous Exposure Incidents in Dentistry

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An interesting article titled “Percutaneous exposure incidents: a review of practice and awareness of current protocols at a Dental Faculty” written by Siddiqi et al. appears in Oral Surgery in 2017 (vol. 10, e80-e87). The article discusses accidental exposure to blood-borne pathogens at the dental office. In the past the possibility of this occurring has been discussed on this site see for example the posts More Dental Patients Warned of Potential HIV and Hepatitis Exposure in Pennsylvania and Infection Control Lapse in Hawaii at VA Dental Clinic. Sharps and needlestick injuries are sources of infections with blood-borne pathogens (such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV) in dentistry and are referred to broadly as a percutaneous exposure incident. The authors state: “The intimate nature of the patient-dentist environment, the presence of blood and saliva, the routine use of sharp instruments, … Read more

Pandemic Precautions: How Safe is a Visit to the Dentist for Removing Your Wisdom Tooth?

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The pandemic has made regular life difficult, and even something as important as going to the local dentist for a regular checkup has not been exempted from that effect. This brings us to a very real and tricky question: is it really safe to go to a dentist when COVID-19 is running rampant everywhere? Even more importantly, how safe is it to get your wisdom teeth removed right now? The Answer is Highly Variable There isn’t a singular “yes” or “no” answer to this question, which could be taken as applicable across all dental clinics in the US. It depends on multiple factors and variables that we cannot control. Fortunately, there are also multiple other factors that we can control to keep ourselves relatively safe in any environment, including the dentist’s clinic. As to the question of whether removing a wisdom … Read more

Comparison of Bupivacaine and Lidocaine for Wisdom Teeth Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Comparison of anaesthetic regime in patients undergoing third molar extraction” written by McCarthy et al. appears in Oral Surgery in 2018 (vol. 11, pp. 33-40). The article seeks to explore the use of lidocaine and bupivacaine which are two different anesthetic agents for wisdom teeth removal to see if there is any difference on patient pain, preference, and satisfaction. The authors state that using local anesthesia for removing wisdom teeth when also using general anesthesia is still controversial. They thus designed a double blind split-mouth randomized clinical trial where both an anesthetic and control were used on a patient at the same time. The authors conducted the study in two parts. In the first part 52 patients were given 2% lidocaine with 1: 80,000 epinepherine on one side and nothing given on the other side. In … Read more

What is the Likelihood of Dry Socket After Wisdom Teeth Removal?

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An interesting article titled “A re-audit to assess the incidence of alveolar osteitis within the Oral Surgery Department of a teaching hospital” appears in the 2017 edition of Oral Surgery written by Qalandari and Dargue (vol. 10, pp. e22-e29). In the article a discussion is made of determining the chances of experiencing dry socket after wisdom teeth removal in the oral surgery department of a hospital in Britain. Alveolar osteitis is the official name for what is commonly known as dry socket and is a common complication after wisdom teeth surgery. Dry socket is when there is pain in and around the extraction site after surgery which increases in intensity between one and three days after surgery and there is also a partially or totally disintegrated blood clot within the socket. The authors were interested in what the current incidence … Read more

Chances of Nerve Injury After Wisdom Teeth Removal

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An interesting article titled “Investigation of nerve injury after lower third molar removal” written by Moosa and Malden appears in the 2018 edition of Oral Surgery (vol. 11, pp. 22-27). The article seeks to address how many patients develop inferior alveolar nerve or lingual nerve injury after wisdom teeth removal at a dental clinic in Edinburgh, UK. Nerve injury is a type of complication that is known to occur after wisdom teeth removal. Two nerves that are often damaged include the inferior alveolar nerve and the lingual nerve. When the inferior alveolar nerve is injured there can be tingling, numbness, burning, or painful sensations near the lower lip, chin, and teeth. When the lingual nerve is injured there can be tingling, numbness, burning, or painful sensations near the tongue and loss of taste can occur. According to the authors prior … Read more