Understanding the type and frequency of problems connected with dental implant surgery is essential to guaranteeing the best possible patient results and enhancing clinical practices. Postoperative pain and swelling are examples of less severe complications, while implant failure and infection are examples of more serious difficulties.

The patient’s current health status, the surgical technique, the implant design, and the postoperative care can all impact the likelihood and severity of these problems. However, two outstanding issues of concern for those in healthcare and dentistry are, specifically, the costs involved and the financing offered, plus the training and experience of the dentist involved. How many dentists currently engaged in implanting dental work are required by law to have outlined training and experience?

Oklahoma and Oregon are requiring basic implant training after public outcry about subpar procedures. Most general dentists who work with patients daily have seen instances when implant surgery or implant case design fell short of expectations. But there are other forces at work here that may influence not only the standard of care but also the public perception of implantation as safe and effective.

Advertising can play a major role, as we have seen what happened once pharmaceuticals were promoted in direct-to-consumer (DTC) TV ads. The year was 1997, and reports show that pharmaceutical advertising went up to $10 billion annually. To comply with FDA requirements, advertisements must be truthful and promote only pharmaceuticals approved for specific ailments, sometimes known as indications.

Ads for medications also need to explain any potential side effects and provide links to other resources. Would you require a font of a specific size at the bottom of the ads for patients to read for a length of time? Opinions vary regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ambitious mission to ensure that information about prescription drugs is “truthful, balanced, and accurately communicated.”

Consumers and Demand

Patients have now become accustomed to asking their healthcare providers for specific medications after seeing them advertised on television. A patient asked a dermatologist I know for a prescription for a product to promote hair growth. The dermatologist maintains high ethical standards and said, “You don’t want to know what the side effects are, and there are side effects.” The patient did not receive a prescription.

But what about dental implants? The same should be true. If a patient goes to a practice that specializes in dental implants and is told they will have a consult with someone, what type of person would that consultant be? The literature indicates that these individuals are qualified to offer implant financing, not dental health information. And implants can be very expensive, as one woman realized once she signed up for over $60,000 in loans to pay for hers.

The lack of adequate prior information and unethical behavior on the part of dentists willing to pull teeth needlessly to do implants is leading to lawsuits across the country. The lawsuits are not insignificant and number in the tens of thousands, according to an FDA website that has now been made available to consumers. An investigation revealed the feelings of several patients during and after their implant surgery.

While having her teeth extracted and titanium screws torqued into her jawbone, one woman claimed to have become conscious. A sworn deposition from her complaint states that she was unable to chew for over two years due to severely misaligned artificial teeth until she could afford repair surgery at another facility. They charged her $31,000 for the initial implant surgery.

Patients who sought a second opinion after having implants discovered that the teeth that were extracted might have been salvaged with treatment. Therefore, the assumption is that a lack of ethical constraint may be leading some dentists to remove healthy teeth in order to provide implants.

Private Equity Enters the Fields

Over 70,000 dentists in the United States now practice implant surgery. However, we have to wonder how many are adequately trained and experienced to do this work safely and effectively. Might private equity acquisitions of specialist practices in healthcare be adding to patient difficulties?

Over the past several years, private equity firms have invested over $5 billion in acquiring massive dental chains. These chains provide dental implants through a network of hundreds of independently owned dental offices.

The private equity firms would argue that what they bring to dental care is productivity and services that need it. In other words, they claim they have a better business model than is currently in place in most healthcare facilities. What is a better business model in healthcare supposed to center around? What do they do for the patients? Cutting back on facilities, potential training opportunities, experience, and staff while increasing fees would seem to be counter to the mandate of healthcare professionals. As one physician, not a dentist, commented to me recently, “It’s factory medicine.”

And private equity firms are rapidly expanding their influence in medical and dental practices and end-to-end patient care by acquiring hundreds of healthcare companies, including hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, eye care, clinical trials, addiction services, and emergency departments. They have even entered funeral services. The problem is that federal authorities do not always see these deals. Anyone wishing to peek at some of their investments can look at this spreadsheet.

While PE firms are active in dental acquisitions, the extent of their involvement is still unknown. Trends in PE acquisition of dental practices were examined by analyzing dentist provider data for the period 2015–21. Between 2015 and 2021, the proportion of dentists connected with PE rose steadily, rising from 6.6% to 12.8%. And large chains have the ability to advertise widely and increase their patient base. The private dental practice would seem to be at an unfair advantage in terms of media buys.

The Food and Drug Administration has provided information on what consumers should know about dental implants and how they can report related issues. The agency also maintains the MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience).

A single analysis of this database yields illuminating results. From January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2011, a grand total of 1,978,056 reports were entered into MAUDE. There were 28,046 reports involving dental devices, accounting for 1.41 percent of the total.

Of these, 26,691 were required reports (from manufacturers, 2,968 from distributors, and 140 from user facilities), while 1,355 were optional. There were 66 fatalities, 17,261 injuries, and 7,777 device malfunctions reported out of 28,046 complaints involving dental devices. In some cases of fatality, investigators believe the source was zinc in the dental adhesive.

Dental implants have benefited dentists and patients with limited options. As in everything, when aggressive surgical actions are taken, unforeseen circumstances can occur. Dental implants may be a viable option for some, but perhaps not all who seek them or who are convinced they need them.

The post Teeth, Implants, and Potential Issues of Profit Against Health and Ethics appeared first on Medika Life.

This essay will briefly explore this hypothesis-generating finding.

Speaking to Helio, study author Sage E. Eiset offers this take:

“The hypothesis is not new but has not yet been investigated in a population-based setting. In Denmark, we have several population-based registries with many years of high-quality data, including a public dental registry. This was a unique opportunity to investigate the tooth agenesis–cancer hypothesis.”

Let’s look at the new and provocative study.

Background

Tooth loss is a common condition that affects millions of people around the world, and cancer is a major health concern that affects millions of people each year.

Previous research has suggested a link between missing teeth from birth and cancer risk, but this link has not yet been thoroughly investigated in a population-based setting.

A new study from Denmark builds on previous research to shed new light on the potential link between missing teeth at birth and cancer risk.

Study Details

Researchers in Denmark looked at records of people born between 1977 and 2018 to see if there was a link between missing teeth at birth and certain types of cancer.

The idea is brilliant.

They collected information from various databases on missing teeth (excluding wisdom teeth) and cancer diagnoses.

The study involved over 2.5 million individuals, with just over 2.8 percent having missing teeth at birth and 1.1 percent being diagnosed with cancer at a young age.

Out of those, 778 people had both missing teeth at birth and cancer.

Study Results: Surprising Connection Found: Missing Teeth At Birth Linked to Cancer Risk

The study found that children aged 1 to 3 years with missing teeth at birth were more likely to develop certain cancers, including the following types:

• leukemia (a type known as acute myeloid leukemia; 3.5 times higher risk)
• neuroblastoma (4.2 times)
• kidney tumors (4.6 times)
• liver cancer (7.1 times)
• muscle cancer (8.8 times)

Children aged 3 to 6.

Children aged 3 to 6 had a higher risk of muscle cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma risk increased 3.5 times) and leukemia (acute myeloid leukemia risk increased 3.8 times).

Children aged 10 to 20.

Between 10 to 20 years old, individuals with missing teeth had an increased bone cancer risk. Osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, risk increased by 2.2 times.

Children aged 20 and older.

Finally, young adults aged 20 to 30 had a higher chance of developing appendix (2.5 times) and bladder cancers (3.4 times), while those aged 30 to 40 had a 2.8-fold increase in colorectal cancer risk.

My Take

Do you have a missing tooth (tooth agenesis)?

Tooth agenesis is quite common. On the other hand, the study revealed few cancer cases.

Even if your risk is up to 8.8 times higher for muscle cancer, it is very unlikely you will ever get it.

There are only 400 to 500 children who develop muscle cancer each year.

Why Is There a Tooth Agenesis: Cancer Connection?

The findings may be erroneous; that is, they occurred by chance.
Still, some findings are biologically explainable.

Did you know tooth development is a complex process involving several signaling pathways? Fascinating, right?

These pathways include Wnt, BMP, FGF, Shh, Eda, and others. It’s amazing how many intricate mechanisms are at play to give us our pearly whites!

For example, the AXIN2 gene is connected to tooth anomalies and colon cancer.

Limitations of the Study

The study is registration-based.

While this approach allowed the researchers to build a massive database, it did not allow the establishment of causality.

The findings may be erroneous; that is, they occurred by chance.

Finally, if a very young child had previous cancer therapy, that could impact oral health.

Takeaway Message — Surprising Connection Found: Missing Teeth At Birth Linked to Cancer Risk

A recent study from Denmark found that missing teeth (excluding wisdom teeth) at birth may be linked to an increased risk of certain cancers.

The study, which involved over 2.5 million individuals, found that children aged 1 to 3 years with missing teeth were more likely to develop acute myeloid leukemia, neuroblastoma, kidney tumors, liver cancer, and muscle cancer.

While the study suggests a possible link between missing teeth and cancer risk, it is important to note that the overall risk of developing these cancers is still quite low.

The post Surprising Connection Found: Missing Teeth At Birth Linked to Cancer Risk appeared first on Medika Life.

In part one of this exciting journey, I shared the fight I endured while battling the pain of my impacted wisdom teeth. Now, there’s no longer a fight to be won because I am the ultimate winner. As I said before, I’m not big on fighting. However, I was determined to regain victory over my wisdom teeth.

A few weeks ago, I made the scariest and maybe the best decision of my life – I finally underwent oral surgery and got my wisdom teeth removed. Let me be the first to say my nerves danced in fear up to seconds before the actual surgery. However, I knew I could no longer bear the pain from something so small yet powerful – my wisdom teeth.

My Friendship With Sleep

Honestly, I was thrilled that I would be placed under anesthesia. I saw this as the secret weapon that would allow me to finally get magical sleep. Magically enough, I was right – post surgery, I slept like a baby. However, I was rudely awakened with immense pain once the “magical sleepy potion” wore off. I quickly shouted, “hooray, no more pain,” but I forgot that there would be even more pain to endure after the procedure.

I immediately thought to myself, “ugh, more pain!” Luckily, a little voice reminded me that the pain was only temporary this time.  

My Friendship With Food

For the first time, I can definitely say that I was transformed back to my “baby stage.” I ate baby food, mashed potatoes, smoothies, Ensure, spaghetti, and rinsed with a ton of salt water. It hurt to my core watching everyone around me eat tacos, burgers, pizza and pasta while I stuck to all the “soft food.” On top of this mini breakup with food, I was in pain 24/7. Sleeping was no longer magical because it was hard to find a comfortable position and I woke up several times throughout the night. Although sleeping was hard, it was the only thing I could do besides making salt & water my best friend and eating baby food.  With this, I got lots of rest. On the contrary, I was miserable all the time.

My Friendship With Medication

It all makes sense now; I understand why Oxycodone is so addictive.

My oral surgeon prescribed Penicillin for protection against infections, multiple doses of Tylenol and Motrin but the real bad boy was the Oxycodone. This was my first time using Oxycodone. My doctor specifically instructed me to “only take this medication as needed because there’s a limited amount of 8 pills only with NO refills.” While under anesthesia, those words barely made it into one ear. However, when the “post-surgery pain beast” was ready to attack, I quickly found the bottle of Oxy. Once again, while reading the bottle’s instructions, I was reminded there were NO REFILLS.

After taking my first dose of Oxycodone, the gates of heaven immediately opened and boom – the magical sleep potion had come over me again and the pain had vanished like it was never there. After waking up, I immediately said to myself “boy – oh – boy, this stuff is GOLDEN!”  Yes, I used ice packs and heating pads but there was nothing like the Oxy.

I slowly watched as the eight prescribed pills lessened and the amount got smaller. If there’s one thing I know for sure, that Oxy worked every single time.

Defeat At Last

As I attempted to make the best out of my situation, I continued to tell myself that “all of this is necessary for a lifetime free of wisdom teeth battles.” Days felt like months, and I became a “certified Googler” because I spent 90% of my time awake searching post-surgery best practices on Google. By day 6, all the Oxycodone was gone – as you should imagine. Thankfully, the pain had also gotten better, and I was able to talk a bit more. Throughout my entire post–surgery journey, I became acclimated to communicating through text and written messages. It was a relief to have the ability to say a few words here and there.

Before I knew it, I was throwing the apple sauce and baby food in the garbage and eating sandwiches and more solid food. I no longer had Oxy, but at least I had food.

Tips and Tricks

Throughout this entire post-surgery journey, there were a few things that made the process easier:

Salt & Water: Yes, rising with this four times a day was the most annoying thing ever, but it made my healing process 10x faster.

Getting rest: Sleeping and utilizing this time to get rest is the best thing you can do to place less stress on the body.

Having a support system: Whether physical or virtual, having people around to assist in caring for you will make recovery smoother.

Utilizing Medication: Let me just come out and say it – Oxycodone “saved” my life. Nonetheless, having some sort of pain reliever is important to assist with pain and discomfort.

Be patient: This is the HARDEST rule of them all because each day seems so long; trust me – the pain will go away, and you’ll be like me – looking back and smiling because I finally overcame my wisdom teeth.

Choosing the right surgeon: This plays a big role in every step of the procedure. You want to choose someone who you’re comfortable with and will be sure to provide accurate guidance. My operating surgeon was Dr. Mark Adamiak with Green Hills Oral Surgery, and they went ABOVE & BEYOND to make this entire process as close to perfection!

The post Defeating My Wisdom Teeth appeared first on Medika Life.

However, I’ve been battling a seemingly endless war with my wisdom teeth. I heard horror stories about other people and their painful teeth, and for a few months now, I have struggled with this excruciating pain. Surprisingly, I also listened to an equal number of stories that ended with, “I had no problem with my wisdom teeth because they grew in perfectly fine.”

Holding on to the hope that my battle would reach a more peaceful conclusion, I prolonged getting my teeth checked. I prayed my story would end with “I had no pain at all.”

This was not the case.

Part One: The Introduction to Pain

The first part of my fight started with minor pain, which worsened over months and evolved into a constant, aching, throbbing sensation. I’ve been trying to find the words to describe this feeling. However, there’s nothing worse than dental pain. It resides in the corner of agony all by itself.

Part Two: The Impossible Solution

You’ve probably figured out how this fight ended—with my wisdom teeth once again winning. The second part of my fight entailed trying to find the perfect over-the-counter medicine to ease my discomfort. There is nothing in this world that can ease these aches. You’re probably listing medications you’re certain would work: Tylenol, Excedrin, Ibuprofen, Motrin, etc. Trust me, I tried them all and without fail, the pain persisted. Even two doses of Motrin combined with two doses of Tylenol every 4 to 6 hours wasn’t enough to give me relief.

Part Three: The Wisdom Teeth Win

The third part of the fight ended up just as you probably predicted— I had to see an orthodontist, who told me that my wisdom teeth were severely impacted and I would need oral surgery to remove them.  Therefore, I was referred to a specialist—an oral surgeon.

Thinking my fight couldn’t get any worse, the surgeon told me that my wisdom teeth were infected, and I was instructed to take oral Penicillin.

That brings me to where I am now. I look back at where I first started – hoping my story would have a joyful ending – and question if there is any way to change the narrative. I’ve shed an endless supply of tears, become accustomed to daily headaches, and returned to my dietary roots: eating baby food—all because of my wisdom teeth.

The Remedy to It All:

As I write about the worst fight of my life and prepare for oral surgery, there are a few things I’ve found that have made my battle a BIT easier:

• Drinking hot liquids: Cold liquids usually made my pain worse. However, tea, coffee, and hot drinks offered my teeth a calming sensation.
• BC Powder: At one point, the pain was so bad that I pulled over to the nearest gas station and stumbled upon this powder and have used it ever since! Applying the powder directly on my teeth and drinking water with the powdered medication helped with my intense pain.
• Getting rest: There were times NOTHING worked, and I had no choice but to sleep. Sleeping in a position where I wasn’t laying on my teeth helped a whole lot!
• Seeking professional help: Yes, I hesitated in getting help from a professional. However, I wouldn’t recommend that you follow my example. It pays to tackle your teeth head-on and immediately, so you won’t end up in a battle similar to mine! 

The post “Going One On One With My Wisdom Teeth” appeared first on Medika Life.