nerve damage

Piezoelectric Handpiece versus Standard Handpiece for Wisdom Teeth Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Comparison of a piezoelectric and a standard surgical handpiece in third molar surgery” appears in the 2019 edition of Oral Surgery written by Gopal et al (vol. 12, pp. 30-34). The article discusses if there are any advantageous to using either a piezoelectric handpiece or a standard surgical handpiece with respect to outcomes after wisdom teeth surgery. In the article the authors describe how a piezoelectric handpiece can allow for micrometric cuts with maximum surgical precision and minimal damage to soft tissue. A study was devised including 30 patients who presented in Cape Town, South Africa for removal of all 4 wisdom teeth. The patients had their wisdom teeth removed on one side using a piezoelectric handpiece and on the other side using a standard surgical handpiece and thus a split-mouth design was used. All surgeries … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Tweets From Twitter

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In the past some wisdom teeth related tweets from Twitter have been shared on this site. See for example the posts Wisdom Teeth Removal: Tweets from Twitter and Indications for Removal of Wisdom Teeth. Below are some more recent wisdom teeth related tweets that have been shared on Twitter. 1. Related to Dry Socket 2. Related to Growing Pains 3. Related to Nerve Damage 4. Related to Sinus Complications Hopefully you found the above tweets interesting and or relevant. From the tweets many people were not happy about experiencing dry socket after having wisdom teeth removed. Others were not happy with pain and/or headaches experienced when their wisdom teeth are growing in. Still others had concerns about nerve damage from having wisdom teeth extracted. Further other tweets were related to sinus complications experience after having a wisdom tooth extracted. If … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Surgery Injury Leads to Ride on Rose Parade Float

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The Tournament of Roses Parade or Rose Parade for short has been happening every year on New Year’s Day (or sometimes the day after New Year’s Day) since the late 1800s. The Rose Bowl college football game follows the Rose Parade with this year featuring the University of Washington Huskies versus The Ohio State University Buckeyes with Buckeye coach Urban Meyer coaching his final game before retirement. This year a young woman who suffered a nerve injury after having wisdom teeth removed was selected to ride on the 2019 Donate Life Rose Parade float ” Rhythm of the Heart.” The woman had four wisdom teeth removed while she was a sophomore in high school in 2016. Nearly a week after the surgery she was still in pain on her right side due to numbness and infection. Later she learned that her lingual nerve had … Read more

Using Fibrin Glue to Help Lingual Nerve Repair

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An interesting article titled “Use of Fibrin Glue as an Adjunct in the Repair of Lingual Nerve Injury: Case Report,” was written by Nicholas P. Theberge and Vincent B. Ziccardi and appears in the 2016 Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery (vol. 74, pp. 1899 e1-e4). The article describes a report of a case of a woman in her 20s who had an impacted wisdom tooth removed and developed left lingual nerve numbness and pain. She later had surgery with fibrin glue to help correct the lingual nerve injury. The article reports that most lingual nerve injuries after wisdom teeth removal occurs in 0.4% to 22% of cases. Such an injury can be detrimental to patients and lead to drooling, tongue biting, self-induced thermal injuries, and changes in speech, swallowing, and taste perception. Lingual nerve deficit has been reported to … Read more

Target specific brain cells to help with neuropathic pain

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Researchers from Rutgers University have explored treating chronic neuropathic pain which affects over 1 million Americans. Neuropathic pain results when nerve damage is caused due to injury, surgery or a some disease. Researchers showed that pain could be reduced in animals when microglia brain cells are targeted which are supposed to provide immunity. The researchers say that the microglia brain cells are supposed to be beneficial to the nervous system but in those with neuropathic pain these cells known as microglia have proliferated and instead become toxic. The researchers say that if they catch the injury within one to five days to inhibit microglia after nerve injury the development of chronic pain can be partially reversed. Neuropathic pain persists after the nerve has healed and is often resistant to normal pain medications. In lab mice the researchers used chemotherapy drugs to prohibit the microglia brain immune … Read more