x-ray

Updated Guidance on Patient Shielding During Dental x-rays

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An interesting artice titled “Patient shielding during dentomaxillofacial radiography,” written by Erika Benavides and et. al. appears in the Journal of the American Dental Association (vol. 154, no. 9, pp. 826-835, 2023). The article discusses the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology updated evidence-based recommendations and clinical guidance for patient contact shielding during dental x-rays. Types of dental x-rys include intraoral, panoramic, cephalometric, and cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging and even in some cases multidetector computed tomography (CT), to evaluate the jaws and soft tissues. Dentists attempt to perform imaging techniques while minimizing patient radiation dose and offering the diagnostic views. Any benefits from imaging must outweigh any potential radiation risks. Shielding is a common practice reduce radiation exposure to sensitive tissue. Gonadal shielding is a long-standing practice during imaging that aims to reduce the risk of radiation-induced hereditary … Read more

Using Imaging to Help Treat a Fused Wisdom Tooth

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An interesting article titled “Endodontic Management of a Fused Mandibular Third Molar with Supernumerary Tooth Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography: A Case Report” appears in the American Journal of Case Reports written by W. Almutairi and M. Alduraibi (2022; 23: e937224). The article discusses a case report of a 26 year old man that had a wisdom tooth fused with with a supernumerary tooth. In the article discussion is made of the 26 year old man man with good oral hygiene who arrived at the author’s college in Saudia Arabia after having two days of severe pain on his lower jaw. An exam showed a large, mesially tilted, irregular wisdom tooth fused with a fourth molar. The fused tooth was tender to touch and responded to pain when a cold stimulus was used. The clinical findings suggested symptomatic irreversible pulpitis with … Read more

Iatrogenic Fracture of the Mandibular Angle During Wisdom Tooth Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Iatrogenic Fracture of the Mandibular Angle During Excision of an Impacted Third Molar” appears in Cureus in August 04, 2022, written by Agrawal P, Jadhav A, Bhola N D (vol. 14, no. 8, pp. e27672). The article discusses a case of a 30 year old woman who had atrogenic mandibular angle fracture after having an impacted wisdom tooth removed. In the article, the authors mention of a 30 year old woman visited their outpatient department complaining of pain and swelling over the lower right side of her face with an inability to open her mouth and chew for the last four days. Prior to this, she had her lower right impacted wisdom tooth removed under local anesthesia. On exam, the woman was found to have an asymmetrical face due to swelling over the lower right region … Read more

Panoramic X-Ray Showing Tooth Inside Chin Lights up Internet

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A man posted an image of a panoramic x-ray of his mouth in the midlyinteresting channel on Reddit and this caused the internet to light up. The Reddit user u/super9mega posted the x-ray with the caption “There’s a tooth in my chin.” Reddit users were quite amazed and the post has racked up over 50,000 upvoes and over 2,000 comments. The user explained that the tooth is not causing him any discomfort and he was not aware that it even was present prior to the x-ray he received by his dentist. It seems the consensus by the man’s dentist and also those commenting is that it would do more harm than good to attempt to remove the tooth. With wisdom teeth it is somewhat common to see completely horizontal wisdom teeth that do not erupt. Embedded teeth like this tooth … 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