Woman who suffers broken jaw after wisdom teeth extraction loses medical malpractice case

A woman in North Carolina went to a dental practice in October 2016 and was told she needed to her a wisdom tooth extracted. The following month in November 2016 the woman had the surgery performed by an oral surgeon in North Carolina. During the procedure the dentist had difficulty and required the assistance of another dentist at the dental practice. Substantial pressure was placed on the woman’s jaw during the surgery. The dentist told the woman after the surgery that a small piece of bone in her jaw had broken during the surgery. However, the dental records of the two dentist for this visit said ” a “[l]arge portion of [the] left maxillary tuberosity fractured off with [the] tooth during extraction . . . “ After the surgery the woman experienced intense pain throughout her face and jaw. She … Read more

Vertigo After Tooth Removal

An interesting case report titled “Vertigo after tooth removal” appears in the British Dental Journal written by R. O’Rorke and et al. (vol. 231, no. 3, published August 13, 2021). The article describes a 26 year old woman who experience vertigo after having two teeth surgically extracted. The woman presented to the dentist with bilateral recurrent pericoronitis in relation to distoangularly impacted lower wisdom teeth. The woman had both of these wisdom teeth extracted while under local anesthesia, although there was a four week period of time between each extraction. During a teledentistry visit three days after the second tooth surgery on the lower left side, the woman complained of moderate pain, restricted mouth opening, and nausea. The woman was told she would be okay and to continue to maintain a good oral hygiene. Later on, the woman experience new-onsent … Read more

Chloë Grace Moretz Has a Wisdom Tooth Removed

Recently American actress Chloë Grace Moretz, a 24 year old woman, had a wisdom tooth removed. She apparently had this wisdom tooth removed on December 10, 2021, as was revealed during an appearance with James Corden on the Late Late Show on CBS. She was nervous prior to the surgery and convinced that she was going to end up not okay. She apparently had two other wisdom teeth that could have been removed but did not have them extracted in this go round. She described after the surgery being “sky high in the midnight sky” and felt some regret about not having all three extracted at once. She shared a video of her in a car with gauze wrapped around her jaw apparently on the way back home after the surgery. In the video she says “I’m going to the … Read more

Twenty something year old woman spends two nights in ICU after wisdom tooth removal and failures by dentist

In April 2018 in New Zealand, a twenty something year old woman had to spend two nights in the intensive care unit (ICU) after having a wisdom tooth removed. The woman had a lower right wisdom tooth extracted. This was after she presented at a dental clinic and told the dentist that she had experience on and off pain for over two years near the lower right wisdom tooth. Recently she had constant pain for over a week and and found it difficult to eat or open her mouth. The dentist diagnosed pericoronitis, which is inflammation of the tissue surrounding wisdom teeth and said the woman could either have an antibiotic to take or have the wisdom tooth extracted. The woman elected extraction. In the days that followed the woman “was in pain, her face was swollen, and she could … Read more

Lemierre’s Syndrome after Wisdom Teeth Removal

An interesting article titled “Lemierre’s Syndrome Following Extraction of Wisdom Teeth,” appears in the October 20, 2020 edition of the Cureus Journal of Medical Science (written by A. Keshary and M. Hagan, 12(10): e11061). The article describes a case of an 18 year old man who had his wisdom teeth extracted and then developed Lemierre’s Syndrome which rarely occurs after wisdom tooth removal but is is known to affect young and healthy adults; See Near Death Wisdom Teeth Removal Experience where another case has been discussed on this site in the past. Lemierre’s syndrome is a serious bloodstream infection typically caused by Fusobacterium necrophorum. It has a death rate of around 18% and thus if detected needs to be quickly treated with antibiotics. Very few cases of Lemierre’s syndrome after wisdom teeth surgery have occurred since antibiotics became readily available. In the … Read more