Using Dental Images to Find Strokes

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An interesting article titled “Association between internal carotid artery calcifications detected as incidental findings and clinical characteristics associated with atherosclerosis: A dental volumetric tomography study” appears in the European Journal of Radiology written by Niege Michelle and et al. (no. 145, 2021). The article seeks to determine if calcifications in the internal carotid artery (ICA) in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) can be associated with vascular disorders that can lead to stroke. Calcifications in the ICA are a risk indicator for ischemic problems in cerebral circulation, cerebral atrophy, and atherosclerosis in cardiovascular circulation. In the article the researchers started with 1176 CBCT exams from a database of a private dental records involving the preparation of dental implant placement. The researchers excluded many of those CBCT scans because the patients were younger than 40 years old or they did not have a … Read more

Algorithmically Detecting Brain Abscess Caused by Dental Infection

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An interesting article titled “Dental focal infection-induced ventricular and spinal canalempyema: A case report” appears in the World Journal of Clinical Cases written by Hang Xue an et al. (vol. 8, no. 14, pp. 3114-3121, July 26, 2020). A discussion is made of a case report of a 53 year old woman who developed a brain abscess caused by a dental infection and how an algorithm pathogenic sequencing technique was used for diagnosis. In the article, the authors discuss the 53 year old woman from China who presented to a hopsital in 2019. She had high blood pressure for 10 years that was not well controlled even though she was taking medication and also had dental cavities for the prior three years. When she arrived at the hospital she was in narcosis and had no autonomous respiration. She had Cerebrospinal … Read more

Panoramic X-Ray Showing Tooth Inside Chin Lights up Internet

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A man posted an image of a panoramic x-ray of his mouth in the midlyinteresting channel on Reddit and this caused the internet to light up. The Reddit user u/super9mega posted the x-ray with the caption “There’s a tooth in my chin.” Reddit users were quite amazed and the post has racked up over 50,000 upvoes and over 2,000 comments. The user explained that the tooth is not causing him any discomfort and he was not aware that it even was present prior to the x-ray he received by his dentist. It seems the consensus by the man’s dentist and also those commenting is that it would do more harm than good to attempt to remove the tooth. With wisdom teeth it is somewhat common to see completely horizontal wisdom teeth that do not erupt. Embedded teeth like this tooth … Read more

North Carolina Oral Surgeon Loses License Forever After Death of Patient who Received Dental Implants

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An oral surgeon in North Carolina was forced to give up his license in August 2021. The reason was due to an order signed by the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners that was the result of an investigation of a patient the oral surgeon had treated for dental implants who died as a result of the treatment. The patient that died was a 53 year old cardiologist in North Carolina. The oral surgeon had had his license for roughly 20 years when he had to give it up. On July 30, 2020, the oral surgeon administered anesthesia and sedatives to the cardiolgist for dental implant placement. Close to the end of the surgery, the cardiologist’s oxygen saturation and heart rate dropped to life threatening levels. The oral surgeon attempted ventilation, by trying to intubate the patient with an … Read more

NIH awards grant to study responsible antibiotic use

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio a four-year, $2.4 million grant to work with the American Dental Association Science & Research Institute (ADASRI) to perform a clinical trial study for the responsible use of antibiotics to treat periodontal disease also known as gum disease. The study will allow for the generatation of real-world data on periodontal disease treatments that are supplemented by antibiotics. The study will be lead by principle investigator Georgios Kotsakis, DDS, MS who is an associate professor of periodontics at the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry. More than 30 clinicians who belong to the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) will collect data for the study. The trial is expected to start in Spring 2023 and the periodontal patients will be treated and … Read more