wisdom teeth complications

14 Year old Boy Dies Within 24 Hours of Having Wisdom Teeth Removed

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Unfortunately another case of a person dieing after having wisdom teeth removed has occurred. See this page for some additional information on death from wisdom teeth removal. In this case a young 14 year old boy died within 24 hours after having his wisdom teeth removed. This story has been covered over at DailyMail located at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073128/Ben-Ellis-14-dies-just-hours-having-wisdom-teeth-removed.html The article states the young man had wisdom teeth removed early on a late Wednesday morning. He then took one penicillin tablet and one Oxycodone. He was then found to be dead early the following morning. An autopsy and toxicology tests are currently being performed. As indicated by a few of the commentators on the article it is not clear that the death was from the wisdom teeth removal but as speculation it would appear to be the contributing factor.

Potentially Rare Complications of Having a Tooth Removed

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Last week an article appeared in the Post Tribune by the Chicago Sun Times titled “Tooth extraction brings unlikely complications,” written by Mark Taylor and published November 27, 2011. http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/lake/8563272-418/tooth-extraction-brings-unlikely-complications.html A discussion is made of a 58 year old man who came down with a toothache in wisdom tooth #31. He gets an appointment with an oral surgeon who pulls the tooth. Five days later he comes down with a severe headache and begins to lose control of his right hand. He eventually ends up at a hospital emergency room and an MRI is taken. He tells them that he just had a tooth pulled but they tell him it is a brain tumor and it has to come out. During the surgery the doctor realizes there is no tumor and later tests show fluid in the brain which included … Read more

Wisdom of Having that Tooth Removed: AAOMS Response

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Recently I indicated in a post over here https://blog.teethremoval.com/wisdom-teeth-advice-and-new-dental-schools/ that a New York Times article was run on September 5, 2011, by Roni Caryn Rabin which was titled “Wisdom of Having That Tooth Removed.” This article is located here http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06consumer.html Recently a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times was written by the President of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Arthur C. Jee, discussing this article located at http://www.aaoms.org/docs/media/LetterNYTimes-09-21-11.pdf (link dead 10/14/19) In the article he states The AAOMS does not advocate for the “prophylactic extraction of wisdom teeth” If this is in fact the case then I think the AAOMS should make this clear on their website. The website on wisdom teeth http://www.aaoms.org/wisdom_teeth.php (link dead 10/14/19) continues to say “As you can see, it isn’t wise to wait until your wisdom teeth start to … Read more

What to Do about the Fourth Molar: Similar Management Strategies as the Third Molar aka Wisdom Tooth?

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So wisdom teeth are also known as third molars but did you know that there are also fourth molars in a small subset of patients? A recent study was performed by the United States at an Air Base in Japan which is currently in press to appear in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery titeld Prevalence and Management of Fourth Molars: A Retrospective Study and Literature Review by Khurram M. Shahzad and Lawrence E. Roth, 2011. In the study conducted 409 patients were referred for a third molar (wisdom teeth) consultation. Two of 227 white patients (0.9%) had a fourth molar and 6 of 94 black patients (6.4%) had a fourth molar. One of the other 84 patients (1.2%) also had a fourth molar. Of these patients with a fourth molar 5 out of 9 (55%) had only 1 … Read more

Research During Residency for Oral Surgeons?

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Earlier this year over the summer an article appeared in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery discussing the attitudes of program directors and residents toward performing research during residency. I commented on this article here https://blog.teethremoval.com/the-lack-of-importance-of-research-in-oral-and-maxillofacial-surgery-residency-programs/ A new article has appeared in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Dr. James R. Hupp titled Research During Residency – Should it be Mandated? (vol. 69, pages 2685-2687, 2011). In the article is a discussion of research and whether or not it should be performed by oral surgeons in residency. Dr. Hupp discuses his own experience with research work and then questions if the current accreditation standards require all Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residents to do research. He says: “Now the question becomes, should our standards require all residents to have the opportunity to conduct research and, in my … Read more