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from the no-rinds-were-harmed-in-the-making-of-this-jawbone dept.
Scientists Synthesize Jawbones From Pig Fat (archive)
In patients with congenital defects or who have suffered accidental injuries, the jawbone is nearly impossible to replace. Curved and complex, the bone ends with a joint covered with a layer of cartilage. Both parts must withstand enormous pressures as people chew.
"It is one of the most loaded bones in the human body," said Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a professor of biomedical engineering, medicine and dental medicine at Columbia University in New York.
In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine [DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb6683] [DX] on Wednesday, she and her colleagues reported a surprising success: They managed to grow replacement bones, along with their joints, from the stem cells of pigs. A clinical trial will soon begin in patients with severe birth defects.
The researchers say they hope the same sort of technique can someday be used to grow other replacement bones and joints, including knees. Even if the strategy works, however, it will be years before those who need new jawbones or joints can have them engineered from their own cells.
Journal Reference:
David Chen, Josephine Y. Wu, Kelsey M. Kennedy, et al. Tissue engineered autologous cartilage-bone grafts for temporomandibular joint regeneration [$], Science Translational Medicine (DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb6683)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 16 2020, @01:32AM
That question has different answers depending on which country you're in. My experience in America is that dental health insurance is separate from "regular" health insurance. Some plans can be nearly worthless in practice.
For example: my friend's dental insurance was through his company plan. It was $14/mo($0 deductible) and covered 100% of expenses, but maxed out at $500 yearly benefit. He needed $2500 of work done and cost him $2000. After seeing how worthless it was, financially speaking, he just dropped it. He's back to just hoping nothing goes wrong, no insurance.
Now we come to the implants... They advertise on TV and radio and cost thousands of dollars. That's OK though, because you won't be paying for it up front. See, they'll give you financing. They're selling you teeth on a payment plan, not a payment plan that might save your teeth. Concrete benefits, no money up front, sign the form, receive treatment.
People frequently ignore silent problems until they're too big to fix cheaply. That's only a problem for insurance, not the implants. Regular dentists need to get paid by you or the insurance. The implant dentists will just stretch out the payment plan until it fits your budget.