Wisdom Teeth

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

Acquiring Hepatitis C at the Oral Surgery Office

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One of the complications that can occur from wisdom teeth removal is to have an acquired infection. A particularly devastating infection that can be acquired is hepatitis C. There is one known case of a person acquiring hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV while at an oral surgery office which occurred in the fall of 2012 in Oklahoma. The patient received implants and also had a tooth removed in preparation. This case was covered at the time on this blog in the post Dental Patients Warned of Possible HIV and Hepatitis Exposure Due to Oral Surgeon’s Practices and in the media at the time such as in the article 7,000 patients warned of possible hepatitis, HIV exposure by Donna Domino appearing on DrBicuspid.com on March 29, 2013. After time was given for facts to come out, an article titled “Confirmed Transmission … Read more

Meghan Trainor Has All Four Wisdom Teeth Removed

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Meghan Trainor, is yet another recent celebrity to share that she has had her wisdom teeth removed. Other celebrities that have had wisdom teeth surgery have been discussed on this site before in the posts Celebrities who have had Wisdom Teeth Extracted and Recent Celebrities to have Wisdom Teeth Removal. Meghan is a 25 year old female, who is a famous musician. She shared on her Instagram on November 19, 2019, that she was planning to just have one wisdom tooth extracted, but that she was told all four wisdom teeth should be extracted, and thus had all four removed. View this post on Instagram I was initially going to just take one wisdom tooth out. The dentist said they all had to go. Wasn’t emotionally or mentally prepared but sure got some great content 😩😭😂 the second vid is … Read more