• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.626-635
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• 1996

Odontogenic infections are usually locally confined, self-limiting processes. However, under certain circumstances, they may break through the bony, muscular, and mucosal barriers and spread into contiguous fascial spaces or planes far from the initial site of involvement, resulting in severe life-threatening complications, such as retropharyngeal spread, suppurative mediastinal extension, airway obstruction, pleuropulmonary suppuration, and hematogenous dissemination to distant organs. The mortality arte for mediastinitis from odontogenic infection ranges from 40% to 60%. Therefore rapid evalution and treatment is essential with a combination of life support, antibiotic therapy, and surgical intervention. Recently, we experienced three cases of retropharyngeal and mediastinal abscesses secondary to odonogenic infections. In all patients, early diagnosis was possible by CT scanning and physical examination. The prognosis was good in all patients by using urgent aggressive surgical and antibiotic therapy.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.136-143
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• 2008

Infections involved with the oral and maxillofacial area are associated with various anatomical structures. If the proper treatment is not done in an immediate period, the infections will be quite fatal. The causes of the infections are numerous, but the most common cause of odontogenic infections in children is a dental caries. It is known to lead to some kinds of diseases such as periapical abscess, cellulitis, osteomyelitis, Ludwig's angina, toxic shock syndrome and so on. The common pathogenic sequence of fascial abscess is a necrotic pulpal inflammation in the form of dentoalvelor abscess which spreads over and gradually penetrates into the fascial membranes through the cortical bones and finally contracts the potential fascial spaces. If the infections of oral maxillofacial area were penetrated into the surrounding soft tissues, then they would diffuse into the directions of the least tissue resistance along with the connective tissues and the fascial spaces. These infections can be properly cured by tooth extraction, endodontic therapy, surgical treatment including Incision & drainage and antibiotics. The purpose of the cases is to report the satisfactory treatment results in the patients derived from the canine fascial space abscesss or buccal fascial space ones of the odontogenic origin.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.19 no.10 s.149
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• pp.839-848
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• 1981

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.300-301
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• 1974

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2014

In this report, we describe a case of brain abscess due to odontogenic infection. A 53-year-old female who had been suffering from headache and trismus for two weeks visited the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Sun Dental Hospital (Daejeon, Korea). Even after several routine tests, we still could not make a diagnosis. However, after the combined multidisciplinary efforts of oral surgeons and neurosurgeons, the patient was treated for odontogenic infection and made an uneventful recovery. Therefore, patients with infections in the head and neck region showing symptoms such as headache, changes in mental state, nausea, vomiting, seizures, hemiplegia, speech disturbance, and visual disturbance, a brain abscess should be included in the list of differential diagnoses.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.296-301
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• 1995

Acute mediastinitis is almost always secondary to some other condition, and most cases are due to esophageal perforation. Although acute mediastinitis from odontogenic infection is extremely rare in the era of antibiotic drugs, some more fulminant odontogenic infections can produce complications including airway obstruction, necrotizing fascitis and extension of the infection to thorax. Irrespective of the changing incidence of etiologic factors, unless the pathophysiology of acute mediastinitis and its causes are understood and the conditions promptly recognized and properly treated, the result may be prolonged illness and even death. We experienced a case of odontogenic infection followed by acute mediastinitis and present review of literature.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2021

Due to their rarity and the lack of associated dental symptoms, odontogenic cutaneous sinus tracts (OCSTs) are often misdiagnosed and confused with cutaneous lesions or non-odontogenic infections. It has been estimated that 50% of individuals affected by OCSTs are subjected to inappropriate treatments before the correct diagnosis is established. We describe the diagnosis and treatment of two cases of OCSTs. By using a computed tomography (CT) with soft tissue window setting, the extent of cortical bone destruction and the path of the sinus tract in the soft tissue was easily identified. Thus, we recommend the use of imaging techniques such as CT, which can confirm the odontogenic origin and the exact location of the OCST.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.198-207
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• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated causative strains and their antibiotic sensitivity in patients who were hospitalized for maxillofacial odontogenic infections at a tertiary center in South Korea over the past 10 years with the aim of providing guidelines for the selection of appropriate empirical antibiotics. Materials and Methods: Patients with head and neck fascial space abscesses due to odontogenic infections who underwent incision and drainage surgery with pus culture tests between 2013 and 2022 at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dankook University Hospital were included. The bacterial isolates and antibiotic sensitivity of each strain were analyzed for 2013-2022, 2013-2017, and 2018-2022. The affected fascial spaces were classified into primary, secondary, and deep neck spaces. Results: In the 192 patients included in this study, 302 strains were detected. Viridans streptococcus had the highest frequency (51.7%), followed by Prevotella spp. (16.9%), Staphylococcus spp. (5.6%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (4.6%). The identification rate of viridans streptococcus significantly increased from 41.8% in 2013-2017 to 60.9% in 2018-2022. Viridans streptococcus showed an antibiotic sensitivity of 80.5% to ampicillin; the sensitivity to penicillin antibiotics decreased over the study period. Antibiotic susceptibility was approximately 94% for third-generation cephalosporins. K. pneumoniae, which was identified at a high percentage in patients with deep neck space infection, showed increasing antibiotic resistance to most antibiotics over the study period. Conclusion: Viridans streptococcus was identified in head and neck fascial space abscesses with the highest frequency. Empirical antibiotics should be effective against this strain; penicillin antibiotics are considered inappropriate. For effective treatment of deep neck space abscesses, bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity tests performed as soon as possible are essential.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.669-676
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• 2007

Orbital infection or inflammation is a rare but serious complication of an odontogenic infection. Odontogenic infection can spread to the orbit by one or more of several paths. Such extension is potentially dangerous and can lead to loss of vision or worse. 5-cases of orbital infection and inflammation secondary to infection from upper or lower molar teeth, which extended to the subperiosteal or the retrobulbar region of the orbit, are presented in this report. The infections spreaded to the infratemporal and temporal fossa or the ethmoidal labyrinth, and then to the orbit via the inferior orbital fissure or the lamina papyracea. The clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, route of spread, value of serial CT scanning, treatment and possible complications are reviewed.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 1996

Although the use of the antibiotics has minimized the dangers of the spread of odontogenic infection to adjacent important organs, sometimes the fatal cases, such as Ludwig's angina, mediastinitis, intracranial complications from the odotogenic infection, may be occurred. The odontogenic infections or oral and maxillofacial region may involve the intracranial area through systemic circulation or by direct spread into the intracranial cavity. Headache, malaise, loss of appetite, chills, fever, vomiting, apathy, and irritability are usually followed by more specific involvement of the nervous system. We experienced one patient who died of intracranial complication from odontogenic infection. So we report the case and the literatures about intracranial involvements following odontogenic infections and dental procedures.