Wisdom Teeth

Coronectomy Five Year Follow Up

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An interesting article titled “Coronectomy: A Surgical Option for Impacted Third Molars in Close Proximity to the Inferior Alveolar Nerve—A 5-Year Follow-Up Study,” appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Monaco et al. The article discusses a study that explores complications up to five years after coronectomy. Coronectomy is often suggested to treat wisdom teeth when there is a high risk of nerve damage see for example Do People Know about Coronectomy For Management of Wisdom Teeth?. In the article the authors build upon a prior study they published that evaluated early or late complications and root migration for up to three years after coronectomy by extending the time period to up to five years after coronectomy. The study evaluated 94 patients who presented for lower wisdom teeth removal at the University … Read more

Intravenous Ketamine During Surgery

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A review articled carried out by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews titled “Perioperative intravenous ketamine for acute postoperative pain in adults” written by Brinck et al. in 2018 (no. 12, art. no. CD012033) explored the efficacy and safety of intravenous ketamine in adults for pain management while having surgery under general anesthesia. The authors sought randomized, double-blind, controlled trials for inclusion in their analysis. The main outcomes were opioid consumption and pain intensity at 24 and 48 hours after surgery. The authors included 130 studies with 8,341 participants. Types of surgery included wisdom teeth extraction and among many others like lumbar fusion surgery, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair, abdominal surgery, and elective caesarean section. The researchers found by looking at 65 of these studies that perioperative intravenous ketamine reduced postoperative opioid consumption over 24 hours by 8 mg morphine … Read more

Could a Medication One Day Be Given Instead of Braces to Control Tooth Movement?

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Recent research from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) showed that osteocytes have a crucial role in orthodontic tooth movement as the major source of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL) which is a protein critical to bone remodeling. It is  known that the differentiation of osteoclasts is regulated by RANKL. However, the source of RANKL in the periodontal tissue during orthodontic tooth movement was not previously identified. Now thanks to the research team it is know that osteocytes mainly express RANKL and play a key role in the remodeling of  bone surrounding teeth during orthodontic tooth movement. To explore this issue, the researchers used an orthodontic tooth movement model in which open coil springs were inserted between teeth of mice to move first molars. They then injected a neutralizing antibody against RANKL intended to reduce tooth movement. The … Read more

Using imaging to assess the impaction of lower wisdom teeth as one ages

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An interesting article titled “Impaction of lower third molars and their association with age: radiological perspectives,” written by Ryalat et al. appears in BMC Oral Health in 2018 (vol. 18, no. 1, Published April 4, 2018). The article explores the impaction pattern in radiographic images of wisdom teeth. The authors were motivated by the belief that if the impaction patterns of wisdom teeth can be identified this can help guide clinical decision making regarding to extract or to retain lower impacted wisdom teeth. Specifically, for the study two individuals looked at 1,198 orthopantomographs or panoramic radiographs with 1,810 impacted lower wisdom teeth or third molars. Originally a total of 4,600 orthopantomographs were retrieved from those taken at The University of Jordan Hospital between the years 2010 and 2014, but 3,402 were excluded due to patient age being outside of the … Read more

Man in China Dies Two Weeks after Wisdom Teeth Removal

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Wisdom teeth surgery can in rare cases lead to death. This has been covered before on this site in blog posts such as Wisdom Teeth Removal Death in 2016 in Florida: Settlement Reached, Four and half million settlement in wisdom teeth extraction death, Two million settlement in wisdom teeth extraction death, Recent Stories on Wisdom Teeth Removal Death, Asphyxia Due to Compression of the Trachea Leading to Death After Wisdom Tooth Extraction, 12 Million Given After Wisdom Teeth Removal Caused Death, Wisdom Teeth Removal Leaves to Death Two Days After, and Air Embolism During Wisdom Teeth Removal Causes Death. In the middle of 2020 a Chinese man died after having his wisdom teeth extracted. The 26 year old man had his wisdom tooth removed at a hospital in the Hunan Province of China on May 25, 2020. He had continuous … Read more