Search

Rebuilding atrophied alveolar ridges can present a significant challenge for the maxillofacial surgeons. A multitude of treatment options including guided bone regeneration, onlay block grafting, and distraction osteogenesis are today available as safe procedures.The recent Food and Drug Administration approval of recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs) has given clinicians an added treatment option for reconstructing localized and large jaw defects. Currently, several patients have been successfully treated with the combination of bone graft and rhBMP-2 and the results have been documented as predictable and safe by clinical and radiologic examinations follow-up. In this study, a literature review was conducted using Medline, Medpilot, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. It was concentrated on manuscripts and overviews published in the last 20 years (2000-2020). The key terms employed were platelet-rich plasma, rhBMPs, and their combinations with the common scaffolds used for bone regeneration techniques. The results of clinical studies and animal trials were especially emphasized. The statements from the literature were compared with authors' own clinical data.The potential to reconstruct these large bone defects with a growth factor thus limiting or even avoiding a secondary harvest site is exciting and it represents a new frontier in the field of surgery. This study data confirm how there are excellent documents about the possible combination of using substitute materials and growth factor for treating large and minor craniofacial bone defects.

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), also known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), triggered a global pandemic as the virus spread from the Wuhan Province, China, across all continents. Although infrequent, severe respiratory infection and death caused by SARS-CoV-2 is disproportionately high amongst healthcare providers such as craniofacial surgeons who work in the head and neck region. Factors this impact SARS-CoV-2 transmission include: (1) high viral loads in the mucosa of the oral and nasopharynx, (2) limited and/or imprecise disease screening/confirmation testing, (3) access to and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The time has arrived when certain standards are to be introduced to control the introduction of and appropriate use of surgical implant devices. Now is the time for the professional groups involved in standards and medical device legislation to become active and develop surgical implant device standards to be applicable for the future. A commission could be established to work with FDA in respect to the requirements for surgical implant devices. It is time for the clinical organizations involved in writing consensus standards to cooperate in the introduction of surgical implant device standards.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/16-1-12442 Based on a presentation at the Annual Spring Meeting of the Islamic Medical Association in Kissimmee, Florida. March, 1984.

Apparatus for detecting the presence of nasal air escape during speech. A thermistor is placed in the path of nasal air flow, and air flow over the thermister lowers the temperature of the thermistor creating a voltage change in a bridge circuit. The voltage change is amplified and processed by an analog-to-digital converter, and relative values of the voltage change are displayed by a digital readout. The detected nasal air flow correlates closely with the degree of nasality of the human voice, which in turn is a correlation of nasal emission.