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Cadaver bone

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LittleLynnie

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 22, 2016
Messages
361
Location
Canada
I hope that I'm not going to insult our resident dentists, but I have a horrible and overwhelming fear of having cadaver bone used to supplement my ridge for a possible upcoming implant. I can't imagine any of you doing such a thing, but am not convinced about the actions of my own dentist. I know that he likes to use cadaver bone, since he believes it does the best job, but I know that I ABSOLUTELY could not mentally handle having that product inside of me. I would literally have a mental breakdown. My big fear is that if I insist on synthetic bone, he may use the cadaver bone without my knowledge, since he would believe he was doing the best thing for me, and then I would somehow discover the truth and lose my mind. This may sound insane, but it is huge fear and may even prevent me from getting an implant done at all. I have read though, that our own bodies are constantly losing and replacing bone cells, and that all augmentations are eventually replaced by natural bone of our own making. Does anyone know how long that process takes (months? years?). I'd really like to know this, so if the above (bizarre) situation occurred, and I lost my mind, how long would it take for the cadaver bone to leave, and when would I have only my own bone in my jaw?
 
Hi LittleLynnie, I know nothing about cadaver bones (but sounds terrible), but I know this: you as a patient have the right to get all information and make a choice and your dentist is obliqued to act according to what you chose. The scenario you are imagining (you chose a material and your dentist puts in something else because they think it's better) would literally cost your dentist his licence.
Reading about how much you don't trust them, I'm wondering whether you can't find someone who you know will respect your needs and wishes?
 
In all honesty if I couldn't trust my dentist to follow my wishes then I'd have to find a new dentist, particularly over something such as this.

Have you spoken to them about your concern?
 
I Understand How You Are Feeling Because I Have An Intense Fear Of Going For An Extraction & Implant & The Dentist Not Doing The Implant Part At The Same Time Even If Previously Agreed ? & I Can’t Stand The Thought Of There Being A Hole There!! I Think It’s Part Of OCD For Me Because My Brain Overthinks Absolutely Everything.. I Get Heart Palpitations Just Thinking About It xx
 
Like the others said, I don’t think a dentist can legally do that. Plus they have to code it for insurance and if they used cadaver bone, it would be coded as such.

Just from personal experience, as someone who also was repulsed by using cadaver bone, I had to have it for my bone block graft on my front tooth. I discussed it with the oral surgeon, who used synthetic for all my other bone grafts. He said he usually used synthetic, but had to do a block graft for this one or the aesthetic would be awful. I try not to think about it too much.
 
Enarete, I absolutely love this dentist, but to be honest, am a very distrustful person by nature. I can't imagine that I'd ever trust anyone on this front.

MountainMama, I'm uninsured, so no codes are required in my case (and unless one had the code schedule, how would they know that xxxx was cadaver bone?).

What blew me away recently though, was that my brother had had no idea that his augmentation was done with cadaver bone. Most are, I believe, and the next choices are bovine or porcine, with synthetic only used as a last resort. Thinking about it now though, my guess is that very few patients are ever told about the source of the bone graft material used. Nice that you're able to put it out of your mind, and if we hear back from a dentist about the timeline, you might already be out of the woods.

lleigh26, you are right about the similarity. I wouldn't mind the hole, but I totally get it!

Mumofboys1985, I have told him that I am averse to his choice, and left it at that for now. If I decide to go forward, he will be told how strongly I feel though.
 
When I worked in a dental practice, I was present at few consultations around implantation and letting pre patient chose the material altogether with explaining the choices was a part of it. It may be a good thing to have a profound chat about this with your dentist. As profound as you need to feel that you can rely on them worki g on your terms.
 
I would think you would have some choice, though. I know the research says synthetic is not the first choice, but my last oral surgeon used it instead of cadaver when he could. My bone grafts have all healed nicely with no issues with the synthetic material. The only cadaver I had was the bone block graft. I looked it up and it says 3 to 6 months for your own bone to replace it.
 
Enarete, you can be sure that I will discuss this very thoroughly with him. And nice that consultations were carried out with those patients. I've seen cadaver bone be referred to as coming from "human donors" before though, so that is a bit misleading, lol.

MountainMama, very good to know that the snythetics worked well for you. Thank you so much for finding that information about how long it takes to be gone!
 
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