Osteonecrosis of the jaw natural history, complications and prognosis

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Natural History, Complications and Prognosis

Osteonecrosis can affect any bone, but the hips, knees and jaws are most often involved. Pain can often be severe, especially if teeth and/or a branch of the trigeminal nerve is involved, but many patients do not experience pain, at least in the earlier stages. When severe facial pain is involved, the term NICO, for Neuralgia-Inducing Cavitational Osteonecrosis, is frequently used.

Among patients with ONJ not associated with bisphosphonates, repeat surgeries, usually smaller procedures than the first, may be required, and almost a third of jawbone patients will need surgery in one or more other parts of the jaws because the disease so frequently present multiple lesions, i.e. multiple sites in the same or similar bones, with normal marrow in between. In the hip, at least half of all patients will get the disease in the opposite hip over time; this pattern occurs in the jaws as well. Recently, it has been found that some osteonecrosis patients respond to anticoagulation therapies alone. The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis.

In patients with bisphosphonates-associated ONJ, the response to surgical treatment is usually poor.[1] Conservative debridement of necrotic bone, pain control, infection management, use of antimicrobial oral rinses, and withdrawal of bisphosphonates are preferable to aggressive surgical measures for treating this form of ONJ.[2]

Although an effective treatment for bisphosphonate-associated bone lesions has not yet been established,[3] and this is unlikely to occur until this form of ONJ is better understood, there as been clinical reports of some improvement after 6 months or more of complete cessation of bisphosphonate therapy.[4]

References

  1. Zarychanski R, Elphee E, Walton P, Johnston J. Osteonecrosis of the jaw associated with pamidronate therapy. Am J Hematol. 2006 Jan;81(1):73-5.
  2. Abu-Id MH, Acil Y, Gottschalk J, Kreusch T. [Bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaw.] [Article in German]. Mund Kiefer Gesichtschir. 2006 Mar;10(2):73-81.
  3. Merigo E, Manfredi M, Meleti M, Corradi D, Vescovi P. Jaw bone necrosis without previous dental extractions associated with the use of bisphosphonates (pamidronate and zoledronate): a four-case report. J Oral Pathol Med. 2005 Nov;34(10):613-7 PMID: 16202082
  4. Simon D J Gibbs, John O'Grady, John F Seymour, H Miles Prince. Bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of the jaw requires early detection and intervention. MJA 2005; 183 (10): 549-550