Dependence of odontogenic abscess on meteorological parameters: truth or myth?
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Dependence of odontogenic abscess on meteorological parameters: truth or myth? S. Spalthoff 1
&
P. Jehn 1 & K. Treptow 1 & R. Zimmerer 1 & P. Korn 1 & F. Tavassol 1 & N.-C. Gellrich 1 & J. Dittmann 1
Received: 8 January 2020 / Accepted: 31 January 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Objectives It is still a common belief among dental practitioners that odontogenic abscesses are somehow linked to meteorological parameters. We investigated the influence of different meteorological parameters on the type of surgical abscess treatment (intra- versus extraoral incision) as a measure of the weather-dependent severity of infection. Materials and methods In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed 841 patients who presented at our outpatient clinic with an odontogenic abscess between 2004 and 2013. Results We found no statistical dependence between intra- versus extraoral abscess incision with regard to temperature, atmospheric pressure, or relative air humidity. The annual distribution of abscesses was even, and the number of abscesses with greater or lesser mean values of each meteorological parameter did not differ significantly. Conclusions Our results showed no statistical relationship between meteorological parameters and intra- or extraoral abscess incisions. Clinical relevance Our analysis supports the assumption that the theorized relationship between odontogenic abscesses and meteorological parameters remains a myth. Keywords Odontogenic abscesses . Meteorological parameters . Temperature . Atmospheric pressure . Intraoral abscesses . Meteorological medicine
Introduction It is still a common belief among dental practitioners and oral surgeons that the incidence of oral abscesses is somehow linked to weather conditions, such as temperature or atmospheric pressure. Nissen et al. [1] in 1978 proposed a relationship between low barometric pressure and odontogenic abscesses. Harlfinger et al. [2] supported this hypothesis in 1981 and even found a specific relationship between the occurrence of odontogenic abscesses and specific changes in weather from anticyclonic to cyclonic conditions (high barometric pressure to low barometric pressure). Even in 2015, Seemann et al. [3] published a report that low barometric pressure increases the number of patients with dental
* S. Spalthoff [email protected] 1
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
abscesses. In contrast, Ristow et al. [4] proclaimed in the same year that “a dental myth finally bites the dust,” and that there is no relationship between weather conditions and odontogenic abscesses. Interestingly, the majority of publications on this topic originate from German-speaking countries, possibly reflecting the deep rootedness of this common belief in those particular cultural regions. In general, medical meteorology is a vast field of research with controversial discussions on different topics. For example, in 2015, Nguyen et al. [5] discovered a rela
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