Biocompatible Pellet for Alveolar Ridge Preservation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The atrophy of alveolar bone following tooth extraction leads to inadequate support for dental implants and prostheses, resulting in compromised aesthetics, chewing ability, and increased risk of implant failure due to the softer, porous nature of the deteriorated bone.
Innovation Solution
A biocompatible pellet with a polymer coating or composite structure is placed within the extraction site or on existing bone to facilitate bone growth, providing a scaffold for osteoinduction or osteoconduction, which enhances bone integration and supports prostheses or implants by promoting new bone formation and preserving the original bone shape.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If tooth extraction is performed without immediate grafting or replacement, then the extraction site is cleared and prepared for future treatment, but alveolar bone atrophy occurs leading to loss of 40-60% of ridge height and compromised support for implants
Solution Approach 1:
The pellet is placed in the extraction site immediately after tooth removal, before any significant bone resorption occurs. This preliminary action preserves the alveolar bone structure and prevents the 40-60% height loss that would otherwise occur during the edentulous period, providing a stable foundation for future implant placement.
Solution Approach 2:
The pellet is constructed with a porous structure that allows bone ingrowth and integration. This porosity enables osteoconduction, where new bone forms within the pellet's porous matrix, and osteoinduction, where the pellet stimulates bone formation. The porous material maintains bone volume and density while facilitating natural bone regeneration processes.
2Ease of operation
If the alveolar bone is allowed to resorb naturally after extraction, then the extraction site heals without foreign material, but the bone becomes softer, more porous, and less dense resulting in implant failure
Solution Approach 1:
The pellet acts as an intermediary material placed between the extraction site and the future implant. It mediates the healing process by providing a scaffold that guides bone regeneration while maintaining structural integrity. The pellet protects the healing site and ensures that the bone regenerates with adequate density and volume to support the implant, thereby increasing implant success rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The pellet changes the physical and chemical parameters of the extraction site environment. It maintains bone density, volume, and structural parameters that would otherwise deteriorate during natural healing. By controlling these parameters, the pellet ensures the bone reaches a state suitable for implant placement, transforming the healing outcome from bone loss to bone preservation or augmentation.
3Strength
If bone augmentation is performed to restore alveolar ridge volume, then support for implants is improved, but the procedure becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The pellet serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a space maintainer, a bone graft substitute, a barrier membrane, and a scaffold for bone growth. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate procedures into a single intervention, reducing overall treatment complexity while achieving bone augmentation and preservation goals.
Solution Approach 2:
The pellet is constructed from composite materials that combine biocompatible polymers with bone-conductive ceramics or other osteoinductive substances. This composite structure provides both the mechanical strength needed to maintain ridge volume and the biological properties needed to stimulate bone growth, achieving augmentation in a single material rather than requiring layered or staged procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The pellet accelerates bone growth, providing enhanced support and stability for dental implants and prostheses, reducing bone deterioration and improving the structural integrity of the alveolar ridge, thus addressing the challenges of bone atrophy and implant failure.
Implementation Method 1
The pellet comprises one or more biocompatible materials having a polymer coating or a combination composite coating consisting of polymers and other biomaterials (degradable or nondegradable). The one or more biocompatible materials are arranged or assembled into a solid, matrix or mesh-like structure designed to enhance a bone growth environment by osteoinduction or osteoconduction.
Implementation Method 2
The one or more biocompatible materials are arranged or assembled into a solid, matrix or mesh-like structure designed to enhance a bone growth environment by osteoinduction or osteoconduction.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein are related to pellets that are placed within an extraction site that is in need of bone augmentation and preservation. The pellets are typically cylindrical in shape and comprise a material and a polymer coating. The pellets may advantageously facilitate sufficient new bone growth that jaw bone deterioration is prevented. The pellets create, arrange, and assemble an ideal growth environment for new bone growth to rapidly grow and preserve the original contours of an individual's jaw bone.