What is Smart Dentin Grinder?
Today, extracted teeth that are carrying bacterial plaques are considered a clinical waste and are disposed of in medical biohazard bags. Experts estimate that over 20 million teeth are extracted each year in the United States alone. Even though most of the tooth structure is composed of dentin, which is similar to cortical bone’s composition, it has not been employed routinely as a bone substitute in humans. Also, dentin particles have the advantage, thanks to being cell free mineralized matrix, to maintain mechanical stability, allowing early loading after grafting in fresh sockets and bone defects.
Therefore, autogenous dentin is the best bone graft material for socket preservation and alveolar bone augmentation. This is why the new Smart Dentin Grinder is such a powerful and beneficial tool, as extracted teeth can be transformed into bacteria-free particulate dentin for immediate grafting.
Why does dentin work so well as an autogenic bone graft?
Dentin constitutes a gold standard autograft – the best bone graft available for the dental profession. Dentin bone graft is appropriate for filling sockets after tooth extractions and is superior to any graft for alveolar bone preservation, anywhere in the jaw (upper and lower, anterior and posterior). It can be used for augmenting the jawbone, filling of bone defects, and supporting the stability of implants in a wide variety of cases – ridge preservation, sinus lifting, ridge augmentation for aesthetic purposes, support for dental implants including immediate loading, and more.
What are the advantages of autogenic dentin over autogenic bone?
The chemical composition of dentin is similar to the chemical composition of human bone. However, dentin is more solid than bone thus provides greater stability of the alveolar ridge. Most importantly, with a dentin bone graft the alveolar ridge is absorbed at a very slow pace and it takes more than six years for its remodelling. Furthermore, the use of dentin does not require separate surgery for collecting bone from the patient. We believe that using autogenic dentin as a bone graft is superior to autogenic bone in every respect – it preserves the alveolar ridge for many years, simplifies treatment, shortens chair-time, significantly reduces treatment cost, shortens recovery time and saves the patient from unnecessary pain.
Why does dentin bone graft provide a perfect support for implants?
As mentioned before, dentin is more solid than bone. Therefore, it provides greater stability for implants shortly after grafting, i.e. for immediate loading. Additionally, the use of dentin reduces the waiting time for delayed loading. And, since dentin bone graft preserves the alveolar ridge for many years, implants can withstand loading during mastication for longer periods. All-in-all, dentin bone grafting should be your first choice when treatment involves implants.
How quickly can the Smart Dentin Grinder convert an extracted tooth into dentin autograft?
About 15 minutes, in four quick steps following tooth extraction – manual cleaning of the tooth, automatic grinding and sorting using the Smart Dentin Grinder, and sterilizing with a designated cleansing solution. You then have dentin bone graft graft, free of bacteria and viruses, which can be immediately applied within a few minutes after the tooth is extracted.
What is the texture of the autograft that is produced by the Smart Dentin Grinder?
The Smart Dentin Grinder grinds the tooth and turns it into granules, which are then automatically sorted, so the autograft includes only dentin granules with a diameter between 300 and 1,200 microns. This is the optimal size, since smaller granules are engulfed by macrophages, and larger granules are inconvenient to work with and interfere with the integration process.
What about the enamel in the teeth – isn’t it harmful?
The enamel layer constitutes only about 10% of the tooth, whilst the dentin is about 85%. Also, the enamel is 99% hydroxyapatite (HA), which does not impair bone regeneration and sometimes even helps by absorbing ions like fluorides. Many synthetic graft materials are composed of HA.
What are the advantages of dentin autograft in comparison to allograft?
In contrast to allograft, dentin granules are produced from the patient’s teeth and are autogenic. Therefore, treating with dentin autograft does not carry with it the danger of infection by bacteria and viruses from another person, or the rejection of the graft by the patient’s immune system. Patients will also be happier receiving biological material produced from their own teeth rather than from the corpses of strangers. Also, since dentin is more solid than bone, it provides greater stability for implants. Finally, the dentin of a patient’s teeth is a readily available raw material in your clinic, and its production is significantly lower in cost than purchasing allograft.
Can dentin autograft be compared to xenograft?
Not really, since dentin offers a far better solution. Dentin is ideal as an autograft since its composition is almost identical to that of human bone. Usually, it is easier for patients to agree to receive biological material taken from their own body rather than ground up bones taken from animals. Additionally, since the dentin is from an autogenous source, the patient is not exposed to contamination, viruses, and germs coming from an animal source. In this respect, it is important to note that infection by presently unknown microorganisms is also prevented.
Furthermore, dentin is more solid than bone. Therefore, it provides greater stability for implants. Finally, the dentin of a patient’s teeth is a readily available raw material in the clinic, so its production is significantly lower in cost than purchasing xenograft.
Why is dentin autograft superior to all synthetic bone substitutes?
Dentin autograft is not a substitute, it is organic material derived from the patient undergoing the treatment. Dentin autograft is also highly bioactive in all aspects (osteoconductive, osteoinductive and osteogenic), while many synthetic bone substitutes are not. Unlike dentin, even bio-active and osteoconductive synthetic materials lack the strength of cortical bone, and are therefore poor in providing support for implants and during loading. Synthetic materials are brittle upon loading, whilst dentin behaves in a similar manner to cortical bone, thus providing far better support.
Moreover, whilst dentin is resorbed at a very slow pace, at least 6-8 years after grafting, all synthetic resorbable materials resorb entirely within a year or so. Altogether, just like normal teeth, grafted dentin is a superior material for withstanding loading during mastication, and its slow resorption best preserves the alveolar ridge function and aesthetics. In comparison with synthetic bone substitutes, dentin bone graft leads to far better results, and the cost of its production is significantly lower than the purchase cost of good quality synthetic bone substitutes.
Will the dentin autograft obtained from the extracted tooth be sufficient to fill the socket after extraction?
The volume of dentin bone graft produced using the Smart Dentin Grinder is 2-3 times greater than the original volume (of the cleaned extracted root). Therefore, the dentin autograft obtained from the extracted tooth can fill the socket in excess after extraction, as well as filling an additional socket of similar size.
Can the produced dentin autograft be kept for future use?
Yes, certainly! The dentin granules can be dried in the Dappen Dish provided by using an Autoclave for 5 minutes. The glass container then needs to be sealed, marked and documented according to standards and kept at room temperature. The Dentin graft can be stored, hermetically sealed, for many years. This way, the dentin can serve the patient as high quality and efficient autogenic bone graft for treatments required in the future. In this respect, it should be noted that in many countries it is the patient’s right to request the extracted tooth. In principle, this means that dentin autograft can be produced from the tooth in the future in clinics that have a Smart Dentin Grinder.
How effective is the Smart Dentin Grinder?
The Smart Dentin Grinder was designed for especially high utilisation, and turns approximately 95% of the patient’s extracted tooth into dentin granules of 300-1,200 microns in size, which constitutes a quality autogenic bone graft. Smaller particles, which are not suitable for use, are automatically transferred to a separate chamber, and discarded as biological waste.