According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 5 teens develops serious mental illness without a known scientific reason. Sixty percent of Americans have their wisdom teeth removed, mostly during the teen years. This is sufficient coincidence to demand study. We should look especially for residual chronic infections (osteomyelitis of the jaw).
Many teen shooters were taking SSRI drugs. SSRIs are contraindicated in case of infection, making undiagnosed osteomyelitis of the jaw a possible instigating factor in violent thoughts and action.
Additionally, National Institutes of Health states the causes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are unknown, and is no diagnostic test or FDA-approved treatment for CFS. However, we would do well to scientifically compare the progression of undiagnosed osteomyelitis, with its characteristic chronic fatigue, to osteomyelitis of the jaw resulting from wisdom tooth removal.
School shootings, chronic fatigue, and adolescent mental illness as societal plagues are fairly recent with their timeframes of increased occurrence roughly coinciding with increased elective removal of wisdom teeth.
I think the most successful research will likely come from avoiding oral surgeons as researchers. This because 75% of their income is based on elective removal of wisdom teeth. I have met oral surgeons and dentists who received death threats for attempting unbiased research of wisdom tooth removal. I suggest studying quality of life outcomes comparing those with wisdom teeth removed to those with wisdom teeth retained; research bone scans performed for any reason to ascertain the percentage coincidentally showing osteomyelitis of the jaw; research non-invasive diagnostic tools such as sound waves to detect abscesses, and breathalyzers to detect decay.
It’s high time that healthcare reflects that there is no separation between dental health and bodily health. The old axiom that a doctor who practices dental health cannot also be a doctor who practices bodily health is based on a 100 year old assumption that the pathology of the mouth is separate from the body, but that now scientifically disproven notion continues to stunt the advancement of medical care.