Wisdom Teeth

Acquiring Hepatitis B at the Oral Surgery Office

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In late 2019 on this site, a post titled Acquiring Hepatitis C at the Oral Surgery Office described how it is possible to acquire Hepatitis C while having oral surgery. In that post, a case that occurred in Oklahoma in 2012 was described. Prior to that case, there was a case in 2001, where a patient acquired Hepatitis B virus (HBV) at an oral surgery office. This is described in the article published in 2007, titled “Patient-to-Patient Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Associated with Oral Surgery,” written by J. T. Redd et al., appearing in The Journal of Infectious Diseases (no. 195, pp. 1311–1314). In the article, the authors, at the time, describe the first documented (via medical literature) description of a case of patient-to patient transmission of a blood-borne pathogen in the U.S. occurring in a dental setting. In … Read more

Music to Listen to After Wisdom Teeth Surgery: 2020 Edition

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Over the last few years on this blog, to kick off the new year, a post has been made about music to listen to after having wisdom teeth surgery. It can take days to recover, so you have some down time and need something to do. Naturally, there are other ways besides listening to music you could use to occupy your time after the surgery such as to read books or watch TV; however, this post is to give music recommendations you can easily listen to on YouTube. So far, eight posts in the past have appeared on this site providing recommendations for music to listen to after wisdom teeth surgery has been made. To recap these are YouTube Musicians Rock and Roll Songs Jazz Songs Christian Music Gangnam Style 2013 Edition 2018 Edition 2019 Edition New music is always … Read more

Man Ends His Own Life Dealing with Wisdom Tooth Pain

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Recently a 38 year year old man took his own life while he was waiting to have a wisdom tooth removed. This occurred in Southampton in England in April 2019. The man had been on a waiting list on the National Health Service (NHS) to have his wisdom tooth extracted. He came down with a severe toothache in January 2019 and saw a dentist. After seeing the dentist the man began to take large amounts of painkillers. His mother began to save up money so they could afford private treatment for the extraction. At the time of the death it was estimated the mother had saved about 900 British Pounds  of the 1,500 British Pounds needed for surgery. In the weeks leading up to the death the co-workers of the man said he was always asking to work overtime. After his … Read more

The Defensive Patients Guide to Wisdom Teeth Removal

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Medical doctors are often accused of practicing what is known as defensive medicine. With defensive medicine, a doctor will deviate from the normal practice of medicine in order to perform a medical treatment or run a diagnostic test in order to reduce potential exposure to a malpractice lawsuit. This leads to treatments and tests that are not clinically necessary and is often said to be a cause of overtesting and overtreatment. Defensive medicine is discussed as serving to protect the physician from a lawsuit by the patient. What is not discussed is the idea that a patient can also practice defensive medicine to protect the patient from losing a legitimate lawsuit against the physician. Applying this concept to wisdom teeth surgery, the following is suggested for a patient to help protect themselves from losing a legitimate lawsuit against a physician, … Read more

New Research Being Conducted at Rutgers for Opioid Alternatives Could Lead to Less Potential Drug Abuse for those Having Wisdom Teeth Surgery

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Recently this past year many posts appeared on this site discussing opioids being given after wisdom teeth surgery. Such posts include Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Current Perspectives on Opioid Prescribing, Do Oral Surgeons Give Too Many Opioids for Wisdom Teeth Removal?, Important Studies on Opioid Prescribing: Implications for Dentistry, and Studies and Opinions on Opioids After Wisdom Teeth Removal. It is clear that finding viable alternatives to opioids without the same addicting qualities is a worthwhile endeavor. A potential opioid alternative was discussed in the post Long-acting Local Anesthetic After Wisdom Teeth Removal. Recently in September, 2019, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine was awarded an $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on the combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen to be used as an alternative to opioids [1]. This study will involve 1,800 patients and will … Read more