Strange, Weird & Bizarre Medical Cases & Facts

Some of the most common and sought after dental procedures also happen to be the most expensive. So why should you have to trade an arm and leg for your mouth? Well, the truth is there are several factors that contribute to the high cost of dental treatment. When you get a procedure done, you are paying for treatment, high-tech equipment, dental assisting professionals and the high cost of educating highly qualified dentists.

Without insurance, even a toothache can set you back some serious cash, but the cost of treatment only gets higher. Here’s a list of the most ridiculously expensive dental procedures.

Dental Implants

Implants are a solution for a missing tooth or an alternative to dentures. An implant will replace the root and crown, but at quite a hefty price. Each tooth will set you back between $1,250 and $3,000. That cost however, can skyrocket up to $30,000 if you need a more complex procedure such as bone restoration, gun restoration or if the tooth is in a particularly troublesome location. Think about how much a complete set of chompers could set you back. What you end up with however, is a very real and beautiful-looking tooth, or teeth.

Gum Surgery and Restoration

Also known as periodontal surgery, gum restoration and surgery can be a costly endeavor. In terms of pricing, it is broken up by quadrant and each quadrant of treatment can cost as much as $2,200. Procedures vary from pocket elimination, tissue regeneration, laser therapy and gap reduction, to name just a few. One downside, this cost cannot be avoided. Often, people who want to get bleaching or other cosmetic procedures done need to have healthy gums first.

Veneers

Porcelain veneers can give you that absolutely perfect smile and an eye-bulging bill. Veneers fix crooked, stained and chipped teeth, giving patients a smile that looks like it came out of a magazine. The cost however, ranges from $700 to $2,000 per tooth and depends on the number of teeth being treated. As with many purchases, bulk pricing may be the way to go. It’s also important to remember this procedure usually isn’t covered by insurance. The risks are minimal as long as you follow up with your dentist or consult a professional who attended one of many certified dental assisting schools.

Braces

Although typically reserved for children and teens, adult braces are becoming more common. Yet for any age group, the cost can be substantial. The price ranges from $4,000 all the way up to $10,000 depending on your age and the procedure. The technology behind braces has made huge leaps in recent years and a good set of clear braces can be all but invisible. Another option is Invisalign, a virtually invisible way to get straighter teeth. Braces solve a number of physical and cosmetic problems such as spacing and painful tooth crowding.

Bleaching

Although store-bought whitening kits are very inexpensive, around $25 to $50, it isn’t nearly as effective as a professional whitening experience. The average cosmetic procedure will start at around $500 and will increase based on the number of in-office treatments needed. Laser teeth whitening has taken off recently and this super-effective method will set you back at least $1,000. Someone with a dental assisting certificate will know the ins-and-outs of bleaching.

Root Canal

Root Canals are one of the most widely used dental procedures. The oral surgery is used to repair damaged or rotting teeth. Each tooth can cost between $350 and $600, but back teeth and molars can set you back $1,000 bucks a pop. If you have dental insurance, this cost can be greatly reduced. Root canals can get even more expensive if gum restoration or infection treatments are needed beforehand.

Facts About Atrial Fibrillation

Northern Virginia is home to one of the world’s most respected surgeons for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.  Trained by the inventor of this cardiac surgery, Dr. Niv Ad practices at Cardiac Vascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates and offers residents of Virginia, Maryland and DC access to the most sophisticated atrial fibrillation surgical options available, including minimally invasive surgery.

Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia, or irregular heart beat. With atrial fibrillation, the electrical signals in the atria (the two small chambers of the heart) are fired in a very fast, chaotic and uncontrolled manner. The atria quiver instead of contract. The electrical signals then arrive in the ventricles in an irregular fashion. When atria do not contract effectively, the blood may pool and/or clot. If a blood clot becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke (brain attack) may occur. About 15 percent of strokes occur in persons with atrial fibrillation. Aspirin, warfarin, and cardiac medications may be used to treat atrial fibrillation.

For patients who do not experience relief from medication, there are interventional and surgical options for treatment.  In interventional treatments, a cardiac specialist called an electrophysiologist uses cryoabalation (cold energy) to create lesions which block the abnormal electrical impulses from occurring.

Sometimes, patients are not helped by either medication or electrophysiology procedures.  For these people, there is a surgical option called the Maze Procedure.

The Maze procedure is a surgical intervention that cures atrial fibrillation (AF) by interrupting the circular electrical patterns that are responsible for this arrhythmia. By creating surgical ablation lines in both atria the conduction of the erratic electrical impulses is stopped. This channels the normal electrical impulse in one direction from the top of the heart to the bottom. Scar tissue generated by the ablation permanently blocks the travel routes of the electrical impulses that cause AF, thus eradicating the arrhythmia. The major advantage the Maze procedure offers over other less-invasive forms of therapy is that it corrects all three problems associated with AF: it restores sinus rhythm, facilitates the synchrony between the atria and the ventricles and preserves organized atrial contraction.
The Maze procedure takes about 2-3 hours to perform and cures atrial fibrillation about 95 percent of the time.  The procedure can be performed in two ways, through a median sternotomy or minimally invasively.
•    Median sternotomy – Surgery is performed through a midline (mid chest) incision and involves splitting the breastbone.  This approach is offered to candidates for a combined procedure, such as coronary artery bypass grafting or valve surgery with indications for surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation. It is also offered to patients for a stand-alone procedure who are not eligible for the minimally invasive approach.

•    Minimally invasive approach – Surgery is performed through a small, seven centimeter right anterior throracotomy.  The entire Maze procedure is performed with the same high success rate as with a traditional, larger incision.
Some patients experience intermittent atrial fibrillation but still need surgical treatment.  For them, pulmonary vein isolation is performed through bi-lateral (left and right) incisions in the chest wall and the left atrial appendage is disarticulated.

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If you think walking down a hallway in a slow, steady gait is easy, just ask 3 year old Chase Britton. He is living without his cerebellum; this is the part of the brain that controls your coordination, emotional control, motor skills and balance. Doctors are stumped and his mother says that the cerebellum was there in ultrasound pictures taken during her pregnancy. Of course, doctors want to know what happened to it. Legally blind and also missing the pons, a part of the brain stem that has to do with things like breathing and sleeping.

Chase’s doctors are not sure if a genetic mutation or an injury in the womb is the cause of this problem.

Having had another child before Chase, the Brittons felt it was safe to try again because doctors convinced them that the death of that son at two weeks old was not genetic. They also have a healthy, older son, Alex.

The pregnancy was full of complications, but Chase was born at 35 weeks and believed to be healthy. His mother, however, thought that something was wrong during the first year of his life. Unsure if Chase will ever be able live on his own, without help, his parents are worried. He has very little vocabulary, but he manages to use an I Pad and he is potty trained. His parents are hopeful that Chase will accomplish more and more and a geneticist that they have been working with in Buffalo, New York told them to start his college fund. That’s exactly what the Brittons are hoping for.