Oral Surgeon Ordered to Pay $517,000 for Hit and Run Dentistry

In November 2019, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in New Jersey had his license revoked by the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry and was ordered to pay roughly $517,000 in penalties, costs, and restitution to patients. The oral surgeon was said to have engaged in “hit and run dentistry” that had harmful consequences for many patients. The New Jersey State Board of Dentistry ordered the oral surgeon to pay civil penalties totaling $138,500; restitution totaling $75,041.22 to fifteen patients; and aggregate costs and attorneys’ fees of $303,856.22. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said “…revolving-door dentistry that puts practitioners’ financial gain ahead of patient health and safety erodes public trust and undermines the integrity of the entire profession. That’s why it’s important for the Board to take decisive action in cases like this one, and we are pleased that … Read more

The Defensive Patients Guide to Wisdom Teeth Removal

Medical doctors are often accused of practicing what is known as defensive medicine. With defensive medicine, a doctor will deviate from the normal practice of medicine in order to perform a medical treatment or run a diagnostic test in order to reduce potential exposure to a malpractice lawsuit. This leads to treatments and tests that are not clinically necessary and is often said to be a cause of overtesting and overtreatment. Defensive medicine is discussed as serving to protect the physician from a lawsuit by the patient. What is not discussed is the idea that a patient can also practice defensive medicine to protect the patient from losing a legitimate lawsuit against the physician. Applying this concept to wisdom teeth surgery, the following is suggested for a patient to help protect themselves from losing a legitimate lawsuit against a physician, … Read more

New Research Being Conducted at Rutgers for Opioid Alternatives Could Lead to Less Potential Drug Abuse for those Having Wisdom Teeth Surgery

Recently this past year many posts appeared on this site discussing opioids being given after wisdom teeth surgery. Such posts include Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Current Perspectives on Opioid Prescribing, Do Oral Surgeons Give Too Many Opioids for Wisdom Teeth Removal?, Important Studies on Opioid Prescribing: Implications for Dentistry, and Studies and Opinions on Opioids After Wisdom Teeth Removal. It is clear that finding viable alternatives to opioids without the same addicting qualities is a worthwhile endeavor. A potential opioid alternative was discussed in the post Long-acting Local Anesthetic After Wisdom Teeth Removal. Recently in September, 2019, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine was awarded an $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on the combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen to be used as an alternative to opioids [1]. This study will involve 1,800 patients and will … Read more

Meghan Trainor Has All Four Wisdom Teeth Removed

Meghan Trainor, is yet another recent celebrity to share that she has had her wisdom teeth removed. Other celebrities that have had wisdom teeth surgery have been discussed on this site before in the posts Celebrities who have had Wisdom Teeth Extracted and Recent Celebrities to have Wisdom Teeth Removal. Meghan is a 25 year old female, who is a famous musician. She shared on her Instagram on November 19, 2019, that she was planning to just have one wisdom tooth extracted, but that she was told all four wisdom teeth should be extracted, and thus had all four removed. View this post on Instagram I was initially going to just take one wisdom tooth out. The dentist said they all had to go. Wasn’t emotionally or mentally prepared but sure got some great content 😩😭😂 the second vid is … Read more

Celebrities who have had Wisdom Teeth Extracted

In early 2019, in a post titled Recent Celebrities to have Wisdom Teeth Removal, five celebrities who had wisdom teeth extracted in 2018 and early 2019 were discussed. This included Dua Lipa, Violett Bean, Pete Davidson, Justin Thomas, and Zendaya. After viewing this post, you may be wondering what other celebrities have had wisdom teeth extracted either recently or in the past. The first additional celebrity is Simone Biles, a 22 year old woman, who is a famous gymnast. She shared back on July 27, 2017, in an Instagram photo and Instagram video along with on her Twitter that she had her wisdom teeth extracted. In the video she is seen in a dental chair still hooked up to medical equipment with what looks like gauze in her mouth. The second additional celebrity is Miley Cyrus, a 26 year old … Read more