wisdom teeth removal

Can a Persistent Headache be Caused by Sinus Problems?

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I came across an interesting article that appeared over a year ago in the Washington Post. The article is titled “A man’s persistent headache proves hard to diagnose and harder to treat,” by Sandra G. Boodman, and published on March 19, 2012. Article Link: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-19/national/35448791_1_headache-sinus-pain-relievers The article discusses a 41 year old man who developed a constant headache in November of 2008. Over the course of many months the man consulted many neurologists, ear nose and throat doctors, ophthalmologist, and others but none could explain what was causing him the headache. The man is quoted as saying “I’d been chasing this for more than six months. No one could tell me what it was. I just remember thinking, ‘How am I going to be able to function if it never goes away?” Over the course of the treatment the man … Read more

Potential Risks of Surgery for Wisdom Teeth (Third Molars)

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M. Anthony Pogrel in his article “What Are the Risks of Operative Intervention?” in the Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery vol. 70, pp. 33-36, 2012, suppl. 1, goes into complications associated with removing impacted wisdom teeth (third molars). I have previously explored this topic in detail over at http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html. Although I did a poor job of distinguishing actual complications from negligence. In the article, Pogrel describes how studies have indicated that around 10% (1 in 10) of people undergoing removal of third molars may suffer from a complication. However, most of these complications are mild and will completely resolve in time. Pogrel states “Complications from M3 removal can be divided into 2 groups: those that are short-lived and self limiting, including bleeding, inflammatory complications such as surgical site infection and alveolar osteitis, or “dry socket,” drug reactions, displaced crowns … Read more

Association Between Partially Erupted Mandibular Third Molar and Caries in Distal Second Molar

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An interesting article titled “Association between the presence of a partially erupted mandibular third molar and the existence of caries in the distal of the second molars,” appears in the International Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery by S. G. M. Falci and et. al. (October 2012, pp. 1270-1274). The article mentions how previous studies have shown that caries on the mandibular second molar due to the presence of partially erupted third molars has varied between 7% and 32%. The article criticizes prior work where studies based their prevalence data on panoramic radiographs which is not as good as periapical radiographs when diagnosing caries. The authors state “The lack of sample characterization, the absence of sample calculation, the deficient or inadequate statistical analysis and the absence of a description of the eligibility criteria, discredits the scientific evidence of these previous … Read more

The Costs Associated with Third Molars (Wisdom Teeth)

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An interesting articled by George M. Koumaras titled “What Costs Are Associated With the Management of Third Molars?” appears in the 2012 J Oral Maxillofac Surg vol. 70, pp. 8-10, supp. 1. The article attempts to look at the costs associated with asymptomatic, disease-free, third molars (wisdom teeth). Three scenarios were explored by the author: scenario 1 (nonoperative management): retention of asymptomatic, disease-free third molars and monitoring for 20 years from age 18 to 38 years scenario 2 (operative management): removal of 2 asymptomatic, disease-free, bony impacted third molars for 18-year-old patients using general anesthesia (30 minutes) in an office-based ambulatory setting scenario 3 (failure of nonoperative management): removal of 1 previously asymptomatic, disease-free, bony impacted third molar after 10 years of follow-up in a now 28-year-old patient using general anesthesia (30 minutes) in an office-based ambulatory setting.” The author … Read more

Videos Related to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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For those who are contemplating having oral and maxillofacial surgery or are in urgent need of health treatment they may want to consider viewing some educational videos. The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has recently uploaded many of their videos to their YouTube page over at http://www.youtube.com/user/aaomsvideo. They also have a Vimeo page that contains many of the same videos over at http://vimeo.com/aaoms/videos. I have previously commented on a video on Anesthesia in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Office. I was critical of the video as I pointed out in my prior blog post. A newer video on third molars (wisdom teeth) has been made available. This video is made in partnership with the American Association of Orthodontists.  The video describes how a wisdom tooth can be impacted and how surgery can be performed to remove a … Read more