What is the Estimated Amount of Wisdom Teeth Extractions in the US

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An interesting article titled “Estimated Cumulative Incidence of Wisdom Tooth Extractions in Privately Insured US Patients,” written by Alan R. Schroeder and et. al. appears in Frontiers in Dental Medicine (July 2022, vol. 3, article 937165). The article sought to determine the cumulative incidence and predictors of wisdom teeth extractions in the US. The article was motived by some of the controversy around wisdom teeth extractions and to better provide frequency estimates of the procedure to help inform future quality improvement initiatives and/or clinical trials. The authors used a national dental insurance claims database of privately insured patients (IBM MarketScan Dental Database), to help estimate the incidence of wisdom teeth extractions in the US and to determine variation by sex and geographic region. The authors included all patients in the database for their study who were under 60 years of … Read more

Tramadol dexketoprofen combination effective for relieving wisdom teeth surgery pain

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Effective pain control for wisdom teeth surgery continues to be an area of much interest. In an article titled “ANALGESIC EFFICACY OF TRAMADOL/DEXKETOPROFEN VSIBUPROFEN AFTER IMPACTED LOWER THIRD MOLAR EXTRACTION: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL,” appearing in the Journal of Evidence Based Dental Practice written by C. Vallecillo and et al. (volume 21, issue 4, December 2021, 101618) the authors explore ibuprofen or tramadol-dexketoprofen as pain control after wisdom teeth surgery. In the article the researchers explored the effectiveness of Enanplus a capsule consisting of 75 mg tramadol hydrochloride and 25 mg dexketoprofen that is sold outside the U.S. Tramadol is an opioid class medication that inhibits the reuptake of noradrenaline and serotonin. Dexketoprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that has with fewer adverse effects than other more common NSAIDs. The authors conducted adouble-blind, parallel-group, randomized controlled clinical trial … Read more

Dentists Seek new Guidelines for Gum Disease

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An interesting article titled “When is periodontal maintenance not enough?: The need for clinical guidance,” appears in the Journal of the American Dental Association published on January 21, 2023, written by Stephen K. Harrel and et. al. The article discusses how dentistry should seek to make new guidelines that address the management of periodontal patients who have continued inflammation. In the article discussion is made of how scaling and root planing is typically the first treatment for periodontal disease does not always eliminate inflammation. The initial treatment of periodontal disease consists of the removal of biofilm and calculus and patient education to help them continue to maintain oral hygiene in the future. The authors feel that in the case when inflammation persists, dentists should discuss to the patient advanced therapies and the risks of not undergoing these therapies while also … Read more

Estimating Late Developing Wisdom Teeth

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An interesting article titled “Late Developing Third Molars: a Concerning Predisposing Sign of Impaction?” was presented on July 22, 2021, at the virtual session of the 2021 International Association for Dental Research (IADR)/AADR/CADR General Session written by Denver Marchiori and et al. The research set to investigate more how the development of impacted wisdom teeth which are known to develop later and slower than fully erupted wisdom teeth. This study used longitudinal patient imaging data and quantitative analytical methods to investigate and determine the extent to which late-developing wisdom teeth are more predisposed to eruption and impaction. The authors retrospectively explored 324 maxillary and mandibular wisdom teeth by looking at cone-beam computed tomography scans and panoramic radiographs of 99 Western Canadians ages 6 to 24. rom this data a generalized estimating equation model was calculated to estimate wisdom tooth eruption status … Read more

Is Dentistry in an Uphill Battle Against Dr. Google?

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During the February 2022 Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting Dr. Gregory Psaltis gave an interesting talk titled “Dealing with Dr. Google.” Dr. Psaltis presented how nowadays patients are turning to internet searches to seek information on scientific topics and in particular their dental treatments. Based on what the patients find online this can cause them and their parents to challenge any recommendations. In the talk Psaltis said how parents of young dental patients these days are arriving at dental practices and don’t agree with the recommendations the dentist suggests. He presented four such scenarios including that parent’s do not want x-rays for their child, that parent’s do not want flouride for their child, that parent’s only want tooth-colored crowns—not silver (stainless steel) for their child, and that parent’s only want only fillings for large lesions and never any crowns for … Read more