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Health & Fitness

There is Healing in Form of Bone Growth

Oral cancer has been seen to take a cruel toll on many individuals. It has silenced the voice of a famous film critic and even brought an NBA coach to tears.

Surgery has been a means to treat cancer that has spread to the salivary gland; however, complications have lead to significant loss of bone, and even in some patient, the entire lower jaw. While oral cancer is truly an ordeal to go through, the aftermath, beyond the treatment, can be just as devastating. Disfigurement is something that patients often have to face; it’s certainly not something that people easily can swallow.

However scientists have been looking into more ways to fight back and keep disfigurement from being what is inevitable for patients. Dentists have discovered a new method allowing for bone to repair. Bone repair isn’t an impossible task, but there are certain criteria that need to be fulfilled After a fracture, the fragments of bone are only able to come together and fuse of they are in close proximity to each other. The growth of bone involves connective tissue that later calcifies, which provides the platform that allows for the formation of functional bone.

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When there is too big a gap between two bone fragments or when bones have been too damaged, the body has a harder time repairing. Researchers have found created synthetic bone material that has been successful at stimulating material in the bone. This artificial scaffolding is found to be as strong as real bone but is porous enough to allow bone tissue and blood vessels to grow. For the process to move along faster, the scientists incorporated stem cells that have received directions in creating bone.

Research has shown that this new method has been successful on various animals, and during this year, the researcher hope to take this to clinical studies on patients with serious gum disease or mandibular bone damage. This field of research fosters hope and provides patients with the opportunity to push back and move past cancer.

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If you have any more questions, feel free to contact Drs. Ali & Ali and the caring team at Wellesley Dental Group if you have any thoughts or concerns; they will be happy to answer your questionsContact us today at 781-237-9071 or smile@wellesleydentalgroup.com to set up an appointment and consultation.

 

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