Years after my treatment for oral cancer, I was losing teeth. They say, ‘radiation is a gift, but it keeps on giving.’ At first I had a Maryland bridge. That worked for a while until an adjacent molar had to be extracted. My dental oncologist, Dr. Devin Okay in NY, wanted me to consider dental implants. Even though several dentists …
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Dental Implants: An Accidental Discovery
Dr. Branemark, an orthopedic surgeon and research professor, was studying how blood flow affects bone healing and implanted titanium into the feet of rabbits. When he discovered he couldn’t remove the titanium because it integrated with the bone, he realized titanium could anchor artificial teeth. This accidental discovery took years to market because it was the belief that anything foreign …