Osteonecrosis

Osteonecrosis(Cavitations)

Cavitation has a dual meaning. A cavitation is a cavity or hole of infection in a bone. In surgical nomenclature however, cavitation surgery is the term for the dental surgical procedure that removes diseased bone from within this cavity so that new healthy bone can grow back.

The primary cause of these jawbone cavitations in extraction sites is the failure of the dentist or oral surgeon to remove all of the periodontal ligaments when pulling a tooth. These remaining periodontal ligament pieces later act as a barrier to the creation of new blood vessels and, therefore, to the regrowth of new bone.

In incomplete tooth extractions approximately two to three millimeters of bone will superficially grow over the socket area, but beneath the bone a cavitation remain. As described previously, the term for the degeneration of bone in these cavitation areas, osteonecrosis, is defined as the death of tissue due to poor blood supply.

Recommended Treatment

The recommended treatment of cavitations is surgical debridement of the area to remove all unhealthy bone and all pathology such as abscesses and cysts. Also to inject these lesions with homeopathics and other substances to help increase the healing.

After the unhealthy bone is removed, the goal is bone regeneration

 A cone Beam CT scan will be required prior to cavitation surgery.