Severe odontogenic infections

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: Severe odontogenic infections are serious potentially lethal conditions. Following the death of a patient in the authors’ institution this study was initiated to determine the risk factors, management and outcome of a consecutive series of patients. Methods: All patients admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital under the care of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Unit with odontogenic infections in calendar year 2003 were investigated. Detailed information relative to their prepresentation history, surgical and anaesthetic management and outcome was obtained and analysed. Results: Forty-eight patients, 32M, 16F, average age 34.5, range 19 to 88 years were treated. All presented with pain and swelling, with 21 (44 per cent) having trismus. Forty-four (92 per cent) were as a result of dental neglect and four (8 per cent) were regular dental patients having endodontic treatment which failed. Of those known to have been treated prior to presentation, most had been on antibiotics. Most patients had aggressive surgical treatment with extraction, surgical drainage, high dose intravenous antibiotics and rehydration. The hospital stay was 3.3 (range 1-16) days. Patients requiring prolonged intubation and high dependency or intensive care (40 per cent) had longer hospitalization. No patient died and all fully recovered. Conclusion: Severe odontogenic infections are a serious risk to the patient’s health and life. Management is primarily surgical with skilled anaesthetic airway management. Antibiotics are required in high intravenous doses as an adjunct and not as a primary treatment.IC Uluibau, T Jaunay and AN Gos

A DIRECT SEARCH FOR NEW CHARGED HEAVY LEPTONS AT LEP

This is the post-print version of the Article - Copyright @ 1990 ElsevierResults are presented from a search for a new charged heavy lepton in e+e− annihilation. The data were taken with the OPAL detector at LEP during a scan of the Z0 resonance. Two independent search techniques were used, one looking for events with large missing energy and missing momentum transverse to the beam, and the other for events with isolated energetic leptons. Two candidate events, consistent with expected background, were found in the first search; none was found in the second. These results allow the exclusion at the 95% confidence level of a charged heavy lepton of mass less than 44.3 GeV/c2 if it is assumed to have a massless neutrino partner. Limits are also presented for the case of a massive neutrino.This study is supported by The Bundesministerium f'tir Forschung und Technologie, FRG, The Department of Energy, USA, The Institut de Recherche Fondamentale du Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, The Israeli Ministry of Science, The Minerva Gesellschaft, The National Science Foundation, USA, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada, The Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (the Monbusho) and a grant under the Monbusho International Science Research Program, The Science and Engineering Research Council, UK and The A.P. Sloan Foundation