Wisdom Teeth

The Well Informed Patient

by

In a recent editorial in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery (vol. 69. page 1263, 2011),  titled “Shouldn’t All Clinical Research Be Scientific?”, Dr. Thomas B. Dodson,  talks to his fellow oral surgeon colleagues and says “Not only do we face rapid advances in science and technology, but we have new accountability from economic, legal, and regulatory challenges, as well as a new brand of well-informed patient.” I personally would hope that the well-informed patient are patients who are being informed by oral and maxillofacial surgeons and dentists. However, I do not believe that is really the case here. One question to ask is why patients in the past were not well informed? The other and more pressing question to ask is why are these patients still not being properly informed today? (This also applies to other doctors and … Read more

17 Year Old Female Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removal

by

I was very saddened to recently hear about the death of a young 17 year old girl who was a junior in high school. The woman went into cardiac arrest while having her wisdom teeth removed. She was left in a coma and died 10 days later on April 6, 2011. She was involved in multiple choral programs and was hoping to be a professional singer. What really is upsetting to me about this is at the recent memorial service for her on April 17, 2011, her mother described the doctors calling this very unfortunate and premature death “freak.” One high school senior at the same school discussed how she was still planning to have her wisdom teeth extracted later in the week. The appropriate response should call into question the validity of extracting healthy wisdom teeth from young teenagers … Read more

Noise Cancelling Dental Drill

by

For those who have dental problems that require treatment a dental drill may need to be used. However, some people have fear of a dental drill and going to the dentist. This may cause some people to not visit the dentist due to fear even though they clearly require treatment. In an effort to help curb those who may suffer from dental fear, technology has recently been developed that will cancel out the noise of a dental drill. One would plug a device into their MP3 player and then plug their headphones into this MP3 player. The technology uses adaptive filtering where electronic filters lock onto sound waves and removes those particular sound waves causing their sound to not be heard. The dentist and dental team can still talk to the person having treatment. The technology was initially conceived of … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Promotion and Marketing

by

I have previously talked about PBHS Inc. on this blog and website. They design many websites for oral surgeons and also help with branding and promotion. I have some issues with them in that they provide websites with nearly identical content for oral surgeons to use https://blog.teethremoval.com/oral-surgeon-websites-similar-content/. Even so they do make quality videos on wisdom teeth although of course fail to disclose many of the more serious complications that can occur and the fact that no evidence thus far supports or refutes removing healthy disease free impacted wisdom teeth. https://blog.teethremoval.com/wisdom-tooth-extraction-video/ On PBHS Inc.’s website, on their third molar education and marketing plan section they say, while of course talking to oral surgeons and dentists “Think about this: One –and only one– extra set of wisdom teeth per week will net you approximately $50,000 more annually. If you do one … Read more

Awareness Campaign to Prevent Unnecessary Tooth Extractions

by

The Saving Teeth Awareness Campaign has been launched in the United Kingdom to provide information to those patients in need who have a tooth infection as this will lead to bone loss and potential loss of that tooth. http://www.savingteeth.co.uk/index.htm The campaign’s goal boils down to “If a tooth can be saved, it is the best choice.” The campaign wants to make those aware that root canal treatment is the first choice when a tooth is infected. Many will instead have the tooth extracted and replaced with a bridge or dental implant but they want to try to save as many teeth from extractions as possible. An endodontist is a specialist that will often perform root canal therapy The Root Canal Awareness Week will occur in the United States from March 27 to April 2, 2011. http://www.aae.org/rcaw/ The poster from The … Read more