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The Pathology of Osteonecrosis of the Jaw and Risk Reduction Measures

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The Pathology of Osteonecrosis of the Jaw and Risk Reduction Measures

Osteonecrosis in the jaw is a serious disease that can be painful for a patient. There are numerous stages to osteonecrosis as well as contributing factors. Several clinical studies have been conducted in order to view what features are the most prominent in supplying osteonecrosis to a patient. Dental hygienists play a significant role in assessing and treating patients who have osteonecrosis and can even help inhibit the disease.
Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) can be broken down into two separate words The prefix osteo translates to bone and the suffix necrosis translates to death. Therefore osteonecrosis of the jaw can be deciphered as the death of bone in the jaw. A more in depth insight of this disease can be explained as the exposure of the jaw bone that loses blood and undergoes changes that can disable and deform the jawbone. This condition must occur for longer than eight weeks to be considered ONJ.
There are several aspects that contribute to osteonecrosis. A few related to ONJ consist of: patients having the herpes virus, infections (current or former), radiation therapy of the head and neck, steroid therapy, recent tooth extractions, severe periodontal disease, mal-fitting dentures and poor oral hygiene. “Although these are all factors in patients with osteonecrosis the most prevalent case of the disease in the jaw occurs in patients with cancer, more specifically myeloma and breast

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