Wrong Tooth Extraction - A Cut Throat in Dental Practice: An Evidence Based Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Despite the fact that many interventions are followed, medical error such as wrong site, wrong person and wrong procedure continues to be a menace amongst the medical fraternity. Although lot of protocols exists to prevent this medical error, the measures taken at the outpatient department are still sparse. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the basis of wrong site tooth extraction, medico legal issues concerned and measures taken to prevent this medical error. Materials and methods: The database used in the study was Pubmed using search terms "wrong site surgery" and "wrong tooth extraction". Professional strategies followed at various hospital setups were the major inclusion criteria. Articles reviewed were literature reviews, questionnaire based surveys, clinical experiences of various authors and self reports. Results: A total of 200 articles were thoroughly reviewed from 1991 onwards to recent and 73 articles were selected for the study. Amongst 73 articles, 11 articles were belonging to specialty of Oral Surgery. All the studies analyzed the incidence of wrong site tooth extraction. Conclusion: Patient safety should be the prime goal and various organizations have put up their protocols to achieve it. Dictum of every clinician should be "primum non nocere"-first do no harm.