Wisdom Teeth

Four and half million settlement in wisdom teeth extraction death

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The family of a 31 year old woman who died later on the same day after having wisdom teeth removed in September 2011 was awarded a $4.5 million settlement. The woman had her wisdom teeth removed at a hospital in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She presented for surgery after an infection in her lower left wisdom tooth. The woman had known issues, including a narrow airway due to a congenital vascular malformation on the right side of her mouth and both she and her father told doctors she could not be intubated for that reason. Depsite being provided this information the hospital staff did not note it in her her pre-operative file and made an initial incision that caused significant bleeding. After this was done, doctors attempted to intubate the woman with the use of a laryngoscope blade which led to … Read more

Opioid Prescriptions From Dental Clinicians for Young Adults and Subsequent Opioid Use and Abuse

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A very interesting article titled “Association of Opioid Prescriptions From Dental Clinicians for US Adolescents and Young Adults With Subsequent Opioid Use and Abuse” written by Schroeder et al. was published online on December 3, 2018, in JAMA Internal Medicine. The article sought out to examine the association between dental opioid prescriptions from dental clinicians for adolescents and young adults and new persistent use and subsequent diagnoses of abuse. The article states that dentists are the leading source of opioid prescriptionsfor children and adolescents from age 10 to 19 and in 2009 prescribed 31% of total opioids given to this age group. A common source of dental opioid exposure is of course wisdom teeth extractions. The article states that the authors were at least partially motivated to perform their study over the controversy surrounding whether or not one should extract or retain healthy wisdom … Read more

Antibiotics for Dental Use Contributing to SuperBugs

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Research has shown that antibiotics prescribed by dentists for various dental surgeries and procedures may contribute to the development of Clostridium difficile (C. diff), a serious and potentially deadly infection with severe diarrhea. A common questions many patients ask if they are having their wisdom teeth out includes if they should take antibiotics. This topic has been covered before on teethremoval.com, for example see http://www.teethremoval.com/antibiotic_resistance.html, https://blog.teethremoval.com/patients-perception-of-antibiotic-need-after-teeth-removal/,and https://blog.teethremoval.com/the-effect-of-a-single-dose-of-antibiotics-prior-to-wisdom-teeth-surgery/. The current guidance seems to recommend a single dose of antibiotics prior to surgery for high risk patients for postoperative infections but other healthy patients do not need any antibiotics prior to surgery. During the annual ID Week2017, which is an annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), researchers presented their findings on antibiotic prescriptions leading … Read more

Prevent cavities in sensitive teeth

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People with sensitive teeth know that taking a sip of an ice cold drink can cause a painful jolt in the mouth. There are different approaches to treat this condition but the treatment usually does not last very long. Research appearing in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces shows the development of a new material with an extract from green tea that can help treat sensitive teeth and even help prevent cavities. Tooth sensitivity occurs when the protective layers of teeth are worn away and exposing the bony tissue called dentin. Dentin contains microscopic hollow tubes which allow hot and cold liquids and food to contact the underlying nerve endings in the teeth leading to pain. Unprotected dentin is vulnerable to having cavities form around it. Placing a mineral called nanohydroxyapatite in these tubes has often been used to treat sensitive teeth. … Read more

Preventing Tooth Cavities with an Inhibitor

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Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have created a small molecule that prevents tooth cavities in a preclinical model. The inhibitor blocks the function of an enzyme in an oral bacterium and prevents it from forming biofilms. Specifically the inhibitor causes Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) which is the prime bacterium that causes tooth decay and dental cavities, to not make the sticky bioflim that has it glue to a tooth surface. The selective inhibition of the sticky biofilm acts against S. mutans reduced dental caries in rats fed a diet intended to promote cavities. The glucan biofilm is made by three S. mutans glucosyltransferase (Gtf) enzymes. It is know what the crystal structure of the GtfC glucosyltransferase is, and the researchers used the structure to run numerous computer simulations for drug-like compounds for binding at the enzyme’s active site. Ninety compounds with diverse … Read more