ENHANCEMENT OF OSSEOINTEGRATION USING RESONANT EM FIELDS

DURING THIS PERIOD 1983 TO 1987, THE NUMBER OF DENTAL IMPLANTS INSERTED IN THE UNITED STATES INCREASED 4-FOLD AND THE NUMBER OF PRACTITIONERS PERFORMING IMPLANTS INCREASED 10-FOLD. FURTHERMORE, IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 300,000 OR MORE DENTAL IMPLANTS WILL BE USED IN THE UNITED STATES BY 1992. OSSEOINTEGRATION, PARTICULARLY IN TWO-STAGE ROOT-FORM IMPLANTS, HAS BEEN SHOWN TO RESULT IN EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE OF DENTAL IMPLANTS. HOWEVER, ACHIEVING OSSEOINTEGRATION OFTEN REQUIRES EXTENSIVE PERIODS OF TIME (1 YEAR) WITH THE IMPLANT OUT OF FUNCTION. WITH EARLY FUNCTIONAL RESTORATION,OSSEOINTEGRATION IS OFTEN NEVER ACHIEVED. THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO DEVELOP A NONINVASIVE TREATMENT MODALITY THAT CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE OSSEOINTEGRATION BY EITHER REDUCING THE TIME TO ACHIEVE IT OR BY PROVIDING PREDICTABLE BONE AUGMENTATION. THE AIM OF THIS PHASE I STUDY IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF UTILIZING RESONANT ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS TO STIMULATE OSTEOGENESIS AND THEREBY ENHANCE DENTAL IMPLANT OSSEOINTEGRATION. USING A CANINE TRANSCORTICAL MODEL, ANIMALS WILL BE PLACED IN ALIGNED STATIC AND TIME-VARYING MAGNETIC FIELDS FOR PERIODS OF 3 AND 6 WEEKS. CONDITIONS ON THE FIELD WILL BE SET TO STIMULATE THE TRANSPORT ACROSS CELL MEMBRANES OF SPECIFIC IONS. THE OSSEOINTEGRATION POTENTIAL OF THE RESONANT ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD TREATMENT WILL BE STUDIED, UTILIZING ATTACHMENT STRENGTH AND HISTOLOGY OF THE INTERFACEIN THE TREATED LIMBS AS COMPARED TO THE UNTREATED CONTROL LIMBS.