Ten Year Anniversary of Teethremoval.com

This month in August 2017 marks a milestone for Teethremoval.com. It has now been 10 years since the site was first developed and content started to populate. Here is a look back at some of my favorite posts over the past ten years: In Light of the Allegations of Child Sex Abuse at Penn State… Updates on Anesthesia Provided by Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Third Molar Multidisciplinary Press Conference How to Improve Your Chances to Win a Dental Malpractice Lawsuit When Abstinence is Evidence-Based What to Do about the Fourth Molar: Similar Management Strategies as the Third Molar aka Wisdom Tooth? I hope you have learned something from reading the content related to wisdom teeth, dental care, headaches, and healthcare in general over the past 10 years. Make sure you continue to check back here on TeethRemoval.com for future updates … Read more

Extraction of High Risk Impacted Upper Wisdom Teeth

An interesting article titled “Orthodontic Extraction of High-Risk Impacted Mandibular Third Molars in Close Proximity to the Mandibular Canal: A Systematic Review,” written by Mahmood Reza Kalantar Motamedi and et al. appears in the 2015 Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery (issue 73, pp. 1672-1685). The article describes extraction of lower wisdom teeth in close proximity to the mandibular canal which is high risk and called orthodontic extraction. The authors searched for case reports, case series, retrospective analyses, and clinical trials that reported orthodontic extraction of wisdom teeth with high risk of inferior alveolar nerve injury. The study population included patients scheduled for elective surgical removal of impacted mandibular wisdom teeth in close proximity to the mandibular canal as visualized by radiographic examination. Various databases were searched. The selected studies consisted of publications from August 1996 to March 2014 and the number of impacted mandibular wisdom teeth ranged … Read more

Does Midazolam Impact the Recovery Room Stay for Wisdom Teeth Surgery?

An interesting article titled “Does Intravenous Midazolam Dose Influence the Duration of Recovery Room Stay Following Outpatient Third Molar Surgery?” appears in the 2015 Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery written by Kyle S. Ettinger and et al. (vol. 73, pp. 2287-2293). Midazolam is very commonly used for patients undergoing wisdom teeth surgery and the authors set out to determine if it impacts the length a patient stays in the recovery room. Intravenous (IV) midazolam has a rapid onset of effect, short duration of action, minimal impact on cardiac function, minimal effect on respiratory depression, and it produces anterograde amnesia. Some more recent literate has shown that IV midazolam might be associated with prolonged recovery time for oral surgery. Midazolam can cause postoperative cognitive impairment. The study used patients who had all four wisdom teeth removed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota between the ages of 14 and 29. The … Read more

Exploring Antibiotic Use with Lower Wisdom Teeth Surgery

An interesting article titled “Correlation of antibiotic prophylaxis and difficulty of extraction with post operative inflammatory complications in the lower third molar surgery” appears in the 2014 British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and written by J. Y. Lee and et al. (vol. 52, pp. 54-57). The article set out to investigate the correlation between antibiotic prophylaxis, difficulty of extraction, and postoperative complications of lower wisdom teeth. The authors say that indiscriminate antibiotic prophylaxis can lead to antimicrobial resistance and a shift in the microbial population. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of extraction of lower wisdom teeth performed at Korea University Guro Hospital over a two year time frame starting in January 2010. The authors only included cases in which cefditoren pivoxil was prescribed as an antibiotic. In addition, patients that were kept in a hospital due to postoperative complications were excluded from the … Read more

Pneumomediastinum After Coronectomy

An interesting article titled “Surgical emphysema and pneumomediastinum after coronectomy” appears in the 2015 British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and written by C. Wong and et al. (vol. 53, pp. 763-764). The article describes a case of emphysema and pneumomediastinum occuring in an otherwise healthy 48 year old women after coronectomy of a lower wisdom tooth. This was determined by a chest x-ray after she presented with swelling and impaired eye opening. No surgery was necessary and after staying in the hospital several hours she was discharged. Around a week later the swelling had resolved. The authors say they do not know of any other cases of pneumomediastinum occuring after coronectomy; however, it is known to occur after wisdom teeth removal. See http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html where a discussion of this occurs. It appears that an air turbine drill was used in this women’s case and introduced air into the mediastinum … Read more