Becker's Dental + DSO Review

6 BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW - VOL. 2021 NO. 1 CLINICAL CARE Tooth loss may be long-term COVID-19 side effect By Katie Adams S ome COVID-19 survivors have reported losing teeth with neither blood nor pain, according to a Nov. 26 New York Times report. Farah Khemili, a New York woman who survived COVID-19 in the spring, told NYT she recently lost a tooth without experiencing pain or seeing blood. She also told NYT several other COVID-19 survivors have had a similar experience with losing a tooth, according to the anecdotes shared in the Facebook group for COVID-19 survivors she belongs to. The founder of the Facebook group, Diana Berrent, posted that her 12-year-old son, who had COVID-19 earlier in the year, lost one of his adult teeth even though they were healthy and he had no underlying gum disease. William Li, MD, president and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a nonprofit that researches blood vessels, told NYT that losing a tooth without blood is uncommon and could indicate an issue within the gums' blood vessels. He said the novel coronavirus could potentially damage the blood vessels that keep teeth alive in COVID-19 survivors, as the virus attaches itself to the ACE2 protein, which is present throughout the body. It is also possible COVID-19 could exacerbate oral health problems, David Okano, DDS, a periodontist at the Salt Lake City-based University of Utah, told the newspaper. Some dentists also believe an immune response elicited by COVID-19, known as a cytokine storm, may occur in the mouth, according to NYT. "Gum disease is very sensitive to hyper-inflammatory reactions, and COVID-19 long haulers certainly fall into that category," Michael Scherer, DMD, a California prosthodontist told the newspaper. n Dentists warn against 'shark teeth' TikTok trend, young people filing teeth to stumps By Katie Adams D entists are encouraging young people to do their re- search before acting on a new TikTok trend in which young influencers get their teeth shaved down to short pegs and fitted with crowns. TikTok users have posted the videos to juxtapose their "shark teeth" against their new smiles, which they often obtained in Turkey or another foreign country. Most dentists posting response videos have pointed out that while many users say their teeth have been shaved down to prepare for veneers, most of the short pegs appearing in these videos are crown preparations. Dentists do not recommend young people seeking cosmetic dentistry opt for the invasive process used to shave down teeth into pegs, as the procedure is usually only performed on teeth that are decaying or broken. London-based dentist Dr. Shaadi Manouchehri posted a vid- eo on her TikTok page warning that crown preparation can compromise a tooth's nerve and result in the need for a root canal. "She's going to have dentures by the age of 40," Dr. Ma- nouchehri said while commenting on a young TikTok influ- encer's video. Dentists have also encouraged young people to avoid hav- ing their teeth shaved down to pegs for crowns because they often must be replaced every 10 to 15 years. "That's going to be like $20,000 every 10 years, not to men- tion when you get a cavity," Arkansas orthodontist Ben Win- ters, DDS, said in a TikTok video. n

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