Articaine versus Bupivacaine Anesthetic Effectiveness for Lower Teeth Extraction

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An interesting article titled “A Comparative Evaluation of Anesthetic Effectiveness of 4% Articaine vs 0.5% Bupivacaine for Lower Molar Tooth Extraction” appears in Cureus in December 16, 2022, written by Tenglikar P, Manas A, Sahoo A, et al. (vol. 14, no. 12, pp. e32611). The article discusses the differences in the effectiveness of two common local anesthesia agents used in dentistry to control pain. The authors set out to explore the the effectiveness of 0.5% bupivacaine with 4% articaine in lower tooth extraction based on duration of anesthesia, onset, and pain perception along with observing blood pressure and heart rate. Today lidocaine (lignocaine) is extensively used as a local anesthestic agent in dentistry to control pain. Other anesthestic agents exists including bupivacaine and articaine. The authors conducted a randomized controlled study of patients having lower teeth extracted from June 2017 to October … Read more

Healthy Mitochondria Could Prevent Alzheimer’s disease Progression

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Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have found rendering mitochondria resistant to damage can stop Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases caused by amyloid toxicity. Alzheimer’s disease leads to dementia and is becoming more and more of a burden on healthcare systems. The disease is believed to be caused by an accumulation of toxic plaques in the brain and an abnormal aggregation of a beta-amyloid inside neurons. Previous research has looked into treatment for Alzheimer’s disease by reducing the formation of amyloid plaques.  These results were not very promising and now researchers are looking for other treatment strategies such as considering Alzheimer’s disease as a metabolic disease. The researchers looked at mitochondria, which are energy-producing powerhouses of cells, and important in metabolism. The researchers found that by boosting mitochondria defenses against a particular form of protein stress a reduction … Read more

Migraine surgery for improved functioning

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Research has shown that surgical treatment for migraine helps reduce headache frequency and severity and also leads to improvements in everyday functioning and coping ability. Migraine headache patients are known to experience disability and often have difficulty performing at work and/or school. Surgery can be an effective treatment option for patients with chronic, severe migraine headaches who do not respond to other treatments. Migraine surgery procedures target trigger sites linked to headache patterns. Image by Владимир Берзин from Pixabay Questionnaires are often used to help better understand treatments in the medical realm. Such questionnaires, while they have been used for other pain syndromes, have not been applied to migraine surgery. The study evaluated the performance of the Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) in those who had migraine surgery. The PSEQ has been used in patients with a wide range of … Read more

Iowa dentist with history of inappropriate conduct faces new charges

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An Iowa dentist with a history of alleged sexual misconduct with multiple patients is facing more charges from state regulators. The dentist first faced trouble in July 1993, when was charged with unprofessional conduct in the practice of dentistry and accused of inappropriately touching two female patients, one 17 and one 25 during their dental appointments. The 17 year old was recovering after being sedated during wisdom teeth surgery when the dentist entered and inappropriately touched the patient while she was in the dental chair. The 25 year old at her first appointment was sedated and upon waking found that her clothes were disheveled and had pain in her pubic bone. At her second appointment of the 25 year old, she allegedly awoke and heard the dentist making suggestive remarks while inappropriately touching her. Shortly after the first two patients … Read more

Good News for Dental Phobes: Pain-Free and Needle-Free Dentistry May be Coming

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Dental visits often evoke fear and anxiety, largely due to the dreaded needle and potential pain associated with procedures. But what if there was a way to experience pain-free and needle-free dentistry? Griffith University in Australia is currently trialing a revolutionary device called the Nuralyte that may offer pain and needle free dentistry the future. The reseaschers are developing a technology utilizing light to temporarily block nerve conduction in the teeth and jaw, mimicking the numbing effect of a traditional injection. One burst of light from the Nuralyte may provide 15 to 20 minutes of pain relief. Unlike X-rays, the energy in this light source does not alter DNA. Developed by tech start-up Dentroid, the Nuralyte holds immense potential to transform the dental industry. For individuals with dental anxiety or those who experience difficulty achieving complete numbness from injections, this … Read more