Posted on July 23, 2004 at 3:45 p.m.
An estimated 10 million Americans suffer from symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ)-related disorders, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). TMJ disorders are a complex and poorly understood set of conditions, manifested by pain in the area of the jaw and associated muscles.
An interdisciplinary research team from UAB has received a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the NIDCR, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop new, more functional TMJ implants that will promote integration with surrounding bone and tissue.
“From 1988 to 1998, at least 100,000 TMJ patients received plastic alloy implants and another 300,000 patients received bone grafts to ease TMJ symptoms,” said Yogesh Vohra, PhD, UAB physics professor and grant principal investigator. “These implants were designed to replace the patient’s damaged disc but have shown significant failure rates. It is now clear that TMJ implant designs must include highly wear-resistant surfaces combined with materials that easily integrate into existing bone. Keeping this design focus in mind, we are now working on more long-lasting TMJ implants that should reduce the need for revision surgeries.”
The UAB research team will employ nanotechnology to improve integration of TMJ implants. The new implants will have a metal core that gradually transitions to a smooth, nanostructured ceramic surface. In addition, the screws that attach the implant to the bone will be coated with a nanostructured hydroxyapatite coating to help existing bone better adhere to the implant.
“The nanostructured hydroxyapatite screw coating is especially important to help the implant withstand shear stresses and to promote growth of new bone that will help in the overall implant stability and integration,” Vohra said. “In many cases with current implants, the hydroxyapatite coating on screws shows poor adhesion when the implant is placed in the jaw and bone has less chance to adhere to the implant, which can cause of implant failure.”
The interdisciplinary team working on the project brings together researchers from the UAB schools of Natural Science and Mathematics, Engineering, Dentistry, and the Joint Health Sciences. The team, under the direction of Vohra, also includes: Alan W. Eberhardt, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering, who will perform wear testing on the new implants; Patrick Louis, DDS, associate professor of dentistry, and Jack E. Lemons, PhD, professor of dentistry, who will perform in vivo testing and coordinate with industry on more extensive testing; Shane A. Catledge, PhD, physics research assistant professor, who along with Vohra will fabricate the actual implant; Andrei Stanishevsky, PhD, assistant professor of physics, who is designing the hydroxyapatite coating; and Susan L. Bellis, PhD, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics, who will study how cells attach and multiply on the implant’s surface.
Vohra said that once the TMJ implant design is optimized and validated by mechanical and other testing, the new device would be ready for clinical trials.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Park
(205) 934-3888
E-mail: jpark@uab.edu