Wisdom Teeth

Do Wisdom Teeth Surgery Informational Videos Decrease Anxiety?

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An interesting article titled “Does Viewing a Third Molar Informed Consent Video Decrease Patients’ Anxiety?” appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 2018 written by Laskin et al. (vol. 76, pp. 2515-2517). The article discusses a study of 100 patients having impacted wisdom teeth removed and if watching a video during the informed consent process makes them more or less anxious. The authors were interested in such a study because in the past watching a video during the informed consent process of wisdom teeth removal has decreased anxiety in some cases but in other cases has increased anxiety. Further, if patients are more anxious prior to surgery they can be uncooperative which can cause the surgeon stress and lead to longer surgeries. In the study, 100 patients between 18 and 35 years of age having impacted wisdom … Read more

Loss of Vision After Tooth Extraction

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An interesting article titled “A case report on loss of vision secondary to odontogenic orbital cellulitis” appears in Advances in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by A. Ghaesemi and H. Jones (vol. 4, 2021). The article discusses a case of a woman who lost vision after having a tooth extracted. In the article a discussion is made of a 54 year old woman who went to the hopsital after experiencing three days of left-sided periorbital swelling, nasal discharge, and increasing facial pain. She began to experience these symptoms after having a symptomatic tooth removed. When she arrived at the emergency department she had a left eye that was protruding with extensive conjunctival hyperemia, had restricted eye movements, had a rapid heartbeat, and said that she was increasingly having bluriness in her left eye. A few hours later she lost her … Read more

Recommendations on Accidental Displacement of a Wisdom Tooth

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One of the complications associated with wisdom teeth removal is the accidental displacement of the wisdom tooth. This has been discussed in the post Computer Assisted Retrieval of Accidentally Displaced Wisdom Teeth and as a complication over at http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html. There are many places in the human body a wisdom tooth can end up in accidentally during surgery such as the maxillary sinus, submandibular space, sublingual space, infratemporal fossa, lateral pharyngeal space, and pterygomandibular space. In an article titled “Accidental displacement of third molars; report of three cases, review of literature and treatment recommendation” written by Anand and Patel appearing in Oral Surgery in 2013 (vol. 6, pp. 2-8) a discussion is made of three cases of displacement of a wisdom tooth during tooth extraction along with treatment recommendations. In the article the authors describe the most common sites of displacement … Read more

3D Printed Models for Wisdom Teeth Surgery Planning

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An interesting article titled “Physical Simulation Models in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: A New Concept in 3-Dimensional Modeling for Removal of Impacted Third Molars,” written by Cervenka et al. appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The article describes creating three-dimensional (3D) printed models for wisdom teeth surgery planning for particular use in residency training. The authors discuss how advances in 3D design and printing along with decreases in costs are making the use of surgical simulation models an option for clinical training. This can have particular use with residency training because of caps on the amount of hours residents can work and increasingly patients not wanting residents to participate in their surgeries. In the article the authors present a design and fabrication of a reusable 3D printed lower jaw model with a reconfigurable … Read more

Combining ibuprofen and acetaminophen for wisdom teeth surgery pain management

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Before on this site the hazards of opioids prescribed for surgeries like wisdom teeth extraction has been discussed. Instead of taking an opioid like Vicodin which contains hydrocodone or another opioid that contains oxycodone an alternative patients may have if their oral surgeon is willing is to take a combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. This combination has been discussed in many articles on the past on this site such as Reducing Opioids in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, New Research Being Conducted at Rutgers for Opioid Alternatives Could Lead to Less Potential Drug Abuse for those Having Wisdom Teeth Surgery, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Current Perspectives on Opioid Prescribing. Patients may have questions about the right dosage level, there side effects, and if they work as well as opioids. According to a white paper by the American Association of Oral … Read more