Wisdom Teeth

Should Patients Be Told Of Trainee Role in Their Surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Should Patients Be Told of Resident Role in Their Surgery?” appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by James R. Hupp (2015, vol., 73, pp. 2071-2073). The article discusses how early July is the beginning of a new academic year in most hospital-based medical and dental residency programs. During this time many new doctors obtain clinical education. Hospital based dental residency programs often involved a lot of surgical procedures. The article questions if patients should be told of the residents potential role (and lack of experience) in their own surgery. The saying goes that one should try to avoid going to the emergency room or have surgery the first week of July or even all of July. The common thought is that the large amount of new trainees increases the chances of patient problems. In actuality, most first-year residents are given limited or … Read more

Complications Associated with Coronectomy

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An interesting article titled “What Are the Types and Frequencies of Complications Associated With Mandibular Third Molar Coronectomy? A Follow-Up Study,” appears in the 2015 Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 73, pp. 1246-1253) and written by Giuseppe Monaco. The article explores the likelyhood of complications occuring with coronectomy procedures. Coronectomy is an alternative surgical procedure to extract wisdom teeth with roots that are close to the mandibular canal. The article describes a research study  to determine whether coronectomy decreased neurologic damage in cases of mandibular third molars in close proximity to the inferior alveolar nerve. The study looked at 94 healthy patients with a mean age of ~30 who had 116 mandibular third molars (wisdom teeth) treated with coronectomy. A total of 28 patients dropped out of the study during the 3 year follow up period. Of the … Read more

Reputation of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Reputation of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the UK:the patients’ perspective,” appears in the 2015 British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 53, pp. 321–325) and written by M. Abu -Serriah and et al. The article seeks to explore the reputation of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS). The authors state “One of these is the fact that professional reputations are gifted by salient stakeholders rather than being controlled directly by the professionals themselves, and an important group of stakeholders that has been reported (in publications on professions in medicine) to cause feelings of deprofessionalisation is made up of patients.” In the U.K. the OMFS has shifted to a medical base. OMFS overlaps with other surgical specialties, such as plastic surgery, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), and dentistry. Patients and the public can be confused by the inconsistent use … Read more

Anxiety in Dental Patients Before and After Tooth Extraction

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An interesting article titled “Assessment of general pre and post operative anxiety in patients undergoing tooth extraction a prospective study,” appears in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and written by Pia López-Jornet and et al. (vol. 52, pp. 18-23, 2014). The article sought to explore the amount of anxiety and fear before, immediately after, and one week after dental extraction. The researchers included 70 patients in their study. It is known that fear and anxiety in dentistry is usually associated with poor oral health and poor oral health related quality of life. Some studies have shown that those with lower socioeconomic status and with less education have more anxiety but others have shown those with more education have more anxiety. The researchers believe that oral surgery is stressful for patients and that anxiety fluctuates over time. They feel dental anxiety can be assessed with self-reported … Read more

Should bilateral inferior alveolar and lingual nerve blocks be given for wisdom teeth surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Should we be giving bilateral inferior alveolar and lingual nerve blocks for third molar surgery,” appears in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and written by J. Jabbar and et al. (2014, vol. 52, pp. 16-17). The article discusses how when someone is having their wisdom teeth extracted they are usually given general anesthesia and 2 inferior alveolar nerve blocks or local anesthesia in one or two visits. The authors feel there is controversy over whether 2 inferior alveolar nerve blocks should be given to patients in a single visit. The authors say the most common complications thought to be associated with bilateral inferior alveolar nerve blocks are injury to the tongue during anesthesia, unpleasant effects, loss of control of the tongue, and bilateral anaesthesia of the tongue, which can lead to collection of fluid in the oral cavity and aspiration. The authors mention a few past … Read more