DISEASED JAW BONES.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 415, 23 April 1937, Page 7

DISEASED JAW BONES.

USE OF CERTAIN POWDER American Doctor’s Claim. New York, March 10. A powder made of ground * ones ol s.heep and cattle hes been used successfully to g nerate new bone in cavLies cf diseased human jaw bones, and to make teeth loosened by disease (sound agLin, according *no Dr Frank E. Beube, a member of •th-* clinical s aff of the Columbia Uni vers ity School of Dental and Oral Surgery. The ground bone powder is sterilised by boiling. It-is placed in bone lesions caused by disease or packed around bone surfaces which it is necessary to enlarge. The local supply of cjalcium provided by Th.? powder stimulates the grovAh of new bone. Test cases have been conducted un der con.rol conditions so that results from usdng the ground bone could be com par- d wi h those produced when no powder wia-s used in identical situations. These 'tests have proved the effectiveness of the bone powder treatment, Dr Beube reported. Experiments on Dogs First. Dr Beube, working with Dr Herbert F. Silvers, also of 'the clinical s aff, began experiments with the powder in 1932. They -worked with pathological conditions in dogs’ jaw-bon s, which. are also found commonly in human jaws. Boiled powdered bone wa s inserted into cavities in the bones around the roo's of the Jogs’ teeth. Examinations three to nine weeks’ after the treatmen is disclosed that new bone had grown in the cavi ies. When the treatments wen? omi -ted, Hie cavities became filled v'.th fibrous issue and showed no new bone formation. “It .seem d evident from the work on the dogs,’’ Dr Beube said, “thiat similar results could be hoped for by using the bone powder in lesiens of the jaw-bon s of human patients.” Fourteen Persons Treated. The first treatments in human cases were given about two years ago. Since then 14 m n and women, suffering from four distinct types of dental trouble, have been treated. In one type, removal of the soft tissues around a loose tooth revealed that the inter-ckoiial bone had been destroyed by pyorrhoea. Probing also revealed a deep pocket beneath the tooth. At er the bon? powder had been placed arOtmid- the tooth, time was allowed for healing. Then, according to Dr Beube’s account: “The pocket became obliterated, there was no mobility of the tooth, and the inter-dental bone was restored as high as the middle level of the tooth.”

In another case two teeth, one on eiach side of the upper jaw, had to be removed because of bone destruction around their roots. Powder was then placed in th.? left socket, but not in th© right. Examination after six months revealed denser bone in the socket which had been treated.

Cyst Case s Helped. Other tests' were conducted in cases in which large cysts, bubbla-like masses of infected tissue which form in the jaw-bones, hud b.en removed from both the upper and lower jaws. Again bone powder resulted in generation of new bone. This experiment was checked by Dr Bedbe, who treated one case in -Which cysts had b: en removed from the bases of two t-e th in the same jawbone. Bone powder was used to fill one cavvity. Only the cavity treated with the powder showed' satisfactory improvement. In another cat-?, a toothless patient was unable to wear false teeth. Xrays disclosed that instead of the normlal bony ridge on the jaw-bone there was a “knife-like” rid©? covered with flexable fibrous tissue which could be moved to and fro. This provided a poor base for a dental plate. Powder Bolstered Ridge. Dr Beube saw that the bony ridge would have to be strengthened He lanced the soft tissue, and packed th? bone powder around' the ridge. An X-ray 15 months later sho’Wed the ridge had become almost normal in size; the treatment had quadrupled its- thickness. What had been soft fibrous tissue had now become firm because of the new bone. The patient was able to us.c false teeth comfortably. The bone powder lias been used by Dr Beube only in dental cases. He Thinks it may be possible to generate new bone in other parts of the body by similar treatment.