• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2014

Extension of advanced odontogenic infection from deep neck fascial spaces into the mediastinum is heralded by chest pain, dyspnea, fever, and radiographic demonstration of mediastinal widening. The critical care should be done in a team approach by multiple medical and dental departments, such as, oral & maxillofacial surgery, otolaryngology, anesthesiology, chest surgery, and infection medicine. Especially, fluid & drug therapy, adequate incision & drainage and systemic supportive psychosedation care are important. But, acute hyperventilation can be produced by several distinct causes: severe anxiety, respiratory alkalosis, increased blood catecholamine levels, and a decrease in the level of the ionized calcium in the blood. The orofacial fears about acute pain, trismus, dysphagia, swelling and oral surgical treatment lead to the severe anxiety and increased blood catecholamine level by stress. Therefore, the most dental patient should be cared gently as the stress reduction protocol. In spite of the care, hyperventilation was occurred during psychosedation and local anesthesia for incision and drainage of the masticatory fascial space abscess with deep neck infection & mediastinitis. We suggest that the dental patient with advanced odontogenic infection must be attention for the manifestation of hyperventilation, especially in the medically compromised conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.490-496
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• 2000

We have conducted a retrospective study of 224 patients with the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial infection who had been treated between 1988 and 1999 at Gyeong-Sang National University Hospital. This study was aimed to furnish the data of oral and maxillofacial infection and to aid diagnosis and treatment. The most common fascial space involved, as determined by clinical, radiologic, and operative findings, were the submandibular space(39.4%). The most frequent cause of oral and maxillofacial infection was odontogenic 68.8%. In the odontogenic cause, dental caries was the most common cause. Two-hundred three patients required surgical drainage of the abscess. Seventeen patients needed tracheostomy for airway control. The overall mortality was 0.9% despite aggressive anti-microbial therapy and early surgical intervention. All other patients had an uneventful recovery without major complication except osteomyelitis case(6.0%). The combination of early radiologic diagnosis, effective antimicrobial therapy, and intensive surgical management contributed to the good prognosis.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.174-178
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• 2019

A fungal ball (FB) of the paranasal sinuses is a chronic, non-invasive fungal sinusitis defined as the accumulation of dense aggregation of fungal hyphae in a sinus cavity. A patient with FB infection in a sinus cavity has usually non-specific symptoms such as post-nasal drip, nasal congestion, headache. However, facial pain and toothache can be developed if FB infection is in maxillary sinus. The aim of this case report is to present two cases of FB of the maxillary sinus which caused toothache in the upper molar region. It is also to make dental practitioners consider the non-odontogenic origins of toothache and to pay special attention to avoid unnecessary dental treatment.

• Journal of Korean Dental Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.88-92
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• 2012

Also called necrobacillosis or postanginal sepsis, Lemierre's syndrome (LS) is an uncommon but potentially lethal complication of odontogenic infection. A 27-year-old male diagnosed with Ludwig's angina was transferred from a local hospital due to continuous fever and chills after incision and drainage under general anesthesia. The swelling of both submental and submandibular area subsided, but the fever and chills persisted. While generalized malaise improved, sepsis developed together with the deterioration of liver function. The chest computed tomography scan revealed multiple cavitations throughout both lungs, which were diagnosed as septic pulmonary embolism. After consulting the department of infectious diseases, the patient was treated with intravenous antibiotics focusing on vancomycin and additional antibiotics. After 3 weeks of treatment, the patient recovered completely. Despite its decreased mortality, dentists are not familiar with LS, and it is difficult to diagnose correctly. In this paper, we report a case and present a review of literature.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2011.12a
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• pp.326-329
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• 2011

Mortality associated with maxillofacial infection is relatively low due to the development of antibiotics, and improved oral care. However, inappropriate treatment, delayed treatment, old age, underlying systemic disease, and drug-resistant micro-organisms can potentially result in life threatening situations such as cavernous sinus thrombosis, mediastinitis, and sepsis. Sepsis is the most dangerous state with high mortality, ranging from 20~60%. The treatment of sepsis involves properly monitoring vital functions, fluid resuscitation, surgical drainage, and empirical use of high doses of antibiotics until culture results are available. Ventilatory support maybe be required as well. We encountered a 64-year-old patient who died from sepsis that developed as the result of an odontogenic infection. The initial diagnosis was right temporal, infraorbital, buccal, pterygomandibular space abscess. Despite surgical and medical supportive care, the condition progressed to sepsis and after four days the patient died due to multiple organ failure.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.270-273
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• 2019

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rapidly progressive necrosis of the subcutaneous tissue and fascia, caused by bacterial infection. Usually presenting in the extremities, trunk, or perineum, it is uncommon in the craniofacial or cervical area. Cervicofacial NF is a potentially fatal infection, which should be managed with early detection and intervention. Most cases have a primary odontogenic source of infection, especially when the masticator space is involved. We report a case of masticator space NF that developed without odontogenic origin in a 78-year old female who was treated with prompt surgical drainage and intravenous antibiotics.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.115-117
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• 2014

Septic pulmonary embolism is a rare disease entity that consists of pulmonary infection and embolism predominantly arising from endocarditis and thrombophlebitis. We report a rare case of candidal septic pulmonary embolism secondary to odontogenic infection in a previously healthy and immunocompetent man, who had a submandibular abscess with dyspnea and fever. The patient was not responsive to prolonged broad spectrum antibiotics and surgical drainage, however, antifungal therapy was successful after Candida albicans was confirmed by his blood culture. Since proper identification and the resolution of the septic origin is as important as the diagnosis of septic pulmonary embolism, in a patient with odontogenic infection, who shows definite respiratory complications despite antimicrobial therapy with surgical drainage, various culture examinations should be adopted.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2006

The side effects of head and neck radiation therapy include mucositis, xerostomia, loss of taste, radiation caries, oral infection, osteoradionecrosis and trismus. When a patient is arranged to begin head & neck radiotherapy, oral pathologic lesions are examined and managed for the prevention of oral complications. The advanced odontogenic infection should be especially controlled before the radiotherapy and the patient must be instructed for proper oral prophylaxis. Generally the more conservative treatments, such as, scaling, restoration, endodontic treatment, are the care of choice and dental extraction is performed in advanced periapical and periodontal pathologic conditions. If the dental extraction should be done, the radiotherapy consequently will be delayed until there is epithelium covering the extraction socket, leaving no exposed bone. The cancer patient with severe emotional stress pray for the early radiation therapy, in spite of possibility of the recurrent odontogenic infectious lesions. So, the authors attempted to do the early radiation therapy by the conservative endodontic drainage and surgical incision & drainage without extraction of the infected teeth, and resulted in relatively good prognosis without the severe side effects of head and neck radiotherapy.

• 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.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.236-242
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• 2013

Purpose: The objective of this retrospective study is to evaluate the factors affecting the spread of odontogenic infection. Furthermore, this study was performed to apply to future treatments. Methods: A total of 65 patients, who had received treatment for odontogenic infections from 2010 to 2012 for 3 years, were enrolled in this study. The causes of infection, presence of systemic disease, and complications, durations of treatment, treatment methods, and inflammation levels were compared with the data. Results: Patients over 70 years with systemic disease required immediate drainage, systemic antibiotic therapy and hospitalization. We can determine the direction of the early diagnosis and treatment through blood tests (white blood cells, neutrophil, C-reactive protein [CRP]) and computed tomography. Patients over 70 years with systemic disease had the highest percentage. In addition, these patients showed high levels of inflammation index, such as CRP average of 24.8 and needed for a long-term treatment period and a wide range of surgical incision & drainage several times. Systemic diseases, particularly diabetes mellitus and hypertension, accelerate the spread of infection and had a negative effect that delays healing. Eventually, five of the 65 patients showed serious systemic complications. Conclusion: When evaluating cervico-facial infected patients due to odontogenic infection, the most important thing is deciding the appropriate diagnosis and degree of disease. Considering the patient's systemic status and age, we need to decide the treatment plan. Especially, those patients over 70 years with systemic disease should be treated with rapid surgical approach, and the use of a wide range of antibiotics and intensive care. If proper treatment principle does not apply, severe life-threatening complications will result, such as necrotizing fascitis, acute airway obstruction, mediastinitis, and others.