My friend forwarded me an interesting article.

“The patient, Mystie Michael of Olympia, sued after getting a bone graft that contained some cow parts.The patient, Mystie Michael of Olympia, sued after getting a bone graft that contained some cow parts.”

“Michael’s periodontist, Dr. Betsy Mosquera-Lacy, started the graft with a human bone as requested, but ran out during the surgery. Mosquera-Lacy completed the graft with cow bone, which is also used in dental grafts.”

“She sued Mosquera-Lacy and Bright Now Dental Inc. for negligence, medical battery and violations of the Consumer Protection Act. The consumer protection claims were thrown out, and Michael settled the other claims against Mosquera-Lacy.”

“The doctor “was practicing medicine by treating and caring for Michael, not soliciting patients by advertising the use of human bone for bone grafting procedures. She was not in the business of selling cow bone or human bone,” Justice Richard Sanders wrote for the court.”

Okay, this news may sound silly, but its actually very real, even in our clinic. Different materials could be used for bone grafting, and bovine (cow) bone is commonly used in United States. Autograft (harvesting from the patient’s own) is a great source, however, it’s usually small in volume, soft and mushy, and simply not enough to augument a huge ass defect. It is very common to mix autograft with bovine bone to increase volume and for added structural integrity.

Many patients don’t care too much about the type of bone used for grafting. However, some patients are very concerned and specific about what material they want. Many of my Asian patients are resistant to the idea of using cow bone. Mad cow disease is taken seriously in Korea and Japan, and the thought of cow bone in their mouth terrifies them. Holy Cow Bone!

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