Veterinary Highlights: Biomedicine Regrows Jawbones

UC Davis biomedical engineers and veterinary surgeons adapted cutting-edge biomedical technology to regrow jawbones in dogs that have lost bone to injuries or removal of cancerous oral tumors.

In the past, when a portion of the bone was removed, the jaw had to be left incomplete, with reduced function, and prone to complications.



With this new procedure, once the diseased section of bone is dissected, the bone is reconstructed with a titanium plate and a piece of scaffolding that contains proteins that stimulate regrowth of the bone. The stiff, sponge-like material, soaked in a bone growth promoter protein (bone morphogenetic protein) is inserted into the space where the bone was removed.

Stem cells from the surrounding area migrate to the sponge, attach to it, and the protein makes them differentiate into bone cells that start to produce bone.

UC Davis' specialists performed this procedure on eight cases, with exciting results.

Source article: Dog jawbones regrown with biomedicine technique