oral surgeon

Horizontally Impacted Wisdom Teeth on Both Sides

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An interesting article titled “Impacted Third Molars, A Rare Occurrence of Identical Bilateral Impacted Mandibular Third Molars in Linguo-Buccal Location: A Case Report” written by Shaul Hameed Kolarkodi and et al. appears in Cureus (vol. 13, no. 12, e20858). The article describes the case of a 20 year old man who had bilateral horizontally impacted lower wisdom teeth which found on a panoramic radiograph and also later confirmed with cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging. In the article the authors described how impacted wisdom teeth are when they cannot erupt into the proper position. They mention how doctors encounter many types of impaction of wisdom teeth teeth and mention how having horizontally impacted lower wisdom teeth on both sides is rare. Impacted wisdom teeth can happen due to a lack of space or a pathological change that can disrupt the … Read more

Illinois Man Dies From Too Much Anesthesia While Having Teeth Extracted

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A 51 year old man from Illinois died after having five teeth extacted in July 2021. He had has teeth extracted by an oral surgeon in Lake County which is North of Chicago. During the procedure he was given as given a single dose of 200 milligrams propofol. There was no anesthesiologist present and the oral surgeon was the one also administrating the anesthesia. During the tooth extractions, the man stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Emergency responders were called and when they arrived took the man to a hospital where he died the next day. According to statements from the Lake County Coroner there was too high of a dose of propofol given and this dose would cause a person to not breathe. Further, the oral surgeon did not supply supplemental oxygen until the tooth extractions were already … Read more

Does a Parasite in the Mouth Contribute to Periodontitis?

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An interesting article titled “Entamoeba gingivalis Causes Oral Inflammation and Tissue Destruction,” appears in the Journal of Dental Research written by X. Bao and et al. (vol. 99, no. 5, pp. 561–567, 2020). The article seeks to explore the protozoan Entamoeba gingivalis (E. gingivalis) in inflamed periodontal pockets. In the article, the authors sought to validate the frequency of the Entamoeba gingivalis by analyzing the gums of 158 people with periodontitis and healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction and microscopy tests. A total of 107 of the people in the study were healthy controls while 51 had periodontitis. For those healthy control patients, E. gingivalis was detected in oral cavities in 15% of these patients. For those with periodontitis, E. gingivalis was detected in 77% of inflamed periodontal sites and 22% of healthy sites. The authors state “In conjunction with abundant … 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

Has the FDA Warning for Children Under Three Affected General Anesthesia Use in Dentistry?

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An interesting article titled “Prolonged General Anesthesia in a Pediatric Population” was presented on July 21, 2021, at the virtual session of the 2021 International Association for Dental Research (IADR)/AADR/CADR General Session written by Mary Younan and et al. The research sets to investigate if use of prolonged general anesthesia amongst pediatric dental patients has changed since 2016 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came out with guidance that said 3 or more hours of anesthetic exposure, may be a risk factor for cognitive defects, particularly for pediatric patients under 3 years of age. The researchers attempeted to see if a difference exists in the proportion of pediatric dental cases with general anesthesia time 180 minutes pre-FDA to post-FDA warning and to use a root cause analysis to identify factors that contribute to prolonged general anestehsia exposure of children … Read more