Kokila Kothari’s weakness for sweets had resulted in most of her t
Kokila Kothari’s weakness for sweets had resulted in most of her teeth crumbling by the age of 44. Last year, when her dentist told her that they would have to graft a bone from her hip bone on her jaw to implant false teeth, she thought they were joking. “I checked with a few other
doctors and realised my dentist was telling me the truth,” said the Baroda resident.
She was referred to a consulting implantologist, Dr Dilip Deshpande in Mumbai. “The presence of teeth keeps the bone volume. Implant does not allow bone shrinkage. The absence of even one tooth reduces the bone volume,” said Dr Deshpande, who practices at Dadar. Dr Deshpande told Kothari about a technology that can avert the painful process of grafting and help the jaw bone to grow.
Autologous Osteoblast Implanatation (ABI) involves removing “basic cells of the bone” from bone marrow of hip bone called osteoblasts, which helps the manufacture new bone cells. The doctor performed a biopsy of the bone to get the cells, which were then sent to Regenerative Medical Services Regrow laboratory at Lonavla. The laboratory then cultures the cells for five weeks. “About 4 ml of bone marrow which has about 20,000 to 100,000 cells can populate up to 48 million to 50 million cells,” said Dr Satyen Sanghvi, chief scientific officer, RMS Regrow.
“More than 70% of the patients refuse to go for implantation when we tell them that the bone from hip has to be grafted. Besides that, the patient will have a problem walking for at least three to four months,” said Dr Deshpande.
Kothari decided to get a sample of her bone marrow removed and grow her bone cells last year. Dr Deshpande then conducted the implantation surgery on her on April 18. “My cheeks have been elevated due to the implantation, I look younger,” said Kothari.
Deshpande has conducted two more similar surgeries this year.
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