Orthodontics Department Awarded $10,000 to Study Graft Materials

The Office of Research Administration in late September approved a research agreement with the Japanese company Shofu, Inc. awarding BUSDM $10,000 for orthodontic research entitled Effect of Alveolar Decortication on Integration of Two Augmentation Graft Materials: Norian PDC and DFDBA.

"The research project is an animal (rat) study on bone graft integration under conditions of alveolar decortication," says Dr. Donald Ferguson, chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. "We expect to initiate the study through Dr. Roberto Carvalho, assistant professor, and the Orthopedic Bone Research Laboratory as soon as the grant has been transferred to the orthodontics department." Dr. Chie Hayashi, periodontist and visiting research scholar from Japan, was instrumental in securing the research grant.

Alveolar decortication is an outpatient procedure in which the orthodontist lightly cuts the jaw bone to initiate
a wound-healing response, which releases calcium and makes bone less dense and more responsive to orthodontic treatment.

Shofu, Inc. makes Norian PDC, a new calcium phosphate cement used in bone grafting.