WHAT IS A “CAVITATION” or N.I.C.O (Neuralgia inducing cavitational osteonecrosis)?
A cavitation (or by the formal name, Ischemic Osteonecrosis) is the process when there is a lack of blood supply to an area of bone thus resulted in “dead” bone. We usually see this occurring in the jawbone. It will be seen as a hole in the jawbone which can occur after a tooth extraction that did not heal correctly.
WHAT GOES ON AFTER A TOOTH EXTRACTION ?
- Traditionally, it is assumed that after a tooth has been extracted, your system will act to heal the hole that has been left by a missing tooth.
- Often in cases, this is true. However, many tooth extractions can lead to a pathological defect that is known as cavitation.
- There exists a periodontal ligament that consists of several very thin fibers that act to attach the tooth to the jawbone. When a tooth is extracted, these fibers are broken and some are often left in the socket.
Osteoblasts are specialized cells in a bone that function to repair and grow new bone material. When a tooth is removed, the osteoblasts are prevented from filling the socket of the tooth with new bone by the periodontal ligaments, as these ligaments act as a barrier to prevent osteoblasts from growing bone when a tooth is in place.