Necrotic jawbone has been scientifically shown to produce inflammatory mediators involved in the development of heart disease, cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, and several other inflammatory diseases.
These studies have identified at least 4 inflammatory mediators (cytokines) in the necrotic bone, which cause all these inflammatory processes. This form of osteonecrosis is also called bone cavitation or NICO (Neurlagia Inducing Cavitational Osteonecrosis).
These types of jaws are not a new phenomenon. As early as 1948 this phenomenon has been described in textbooks as “fatty bone degeneration” of the jaw bone. In 1915, the founder of current dentistry, G. Black, described chronic osteitis of the jaw as an ongoing process with cavitation formation and necrosis of bone cells. Black recommended surgical removal of this “dead” bone.