The jaw
as the key to the
immune system.

The field of research

Osteoimmunology: interactions between bone and the immune system

Osteoimmunology has developed into a scientific field in its own right from the communication between the immune and skeletal systems. New findings underline the importance of bone marrow for immunological memory.

With our dental focus on the bone marrow of the maxilla and mandible, we are establishing the research branch of Maxillo-mandibular Osteoimmunology as part of integrative complementary medicine.

Bone marrow defects, which have so far received little attention, are the source of dysregulated expression patterns of certain cytokines — in particular RANTES/CCL5 — and are therefore immunologically active.

To the Science Corner

Diagnostics

CaviTAU® — Ultrasound sonography without radiation exposure

Conventional X-ray methods show bone marrow defects only to a limited extent. Transalveolar ultrasound sonography provides Maxillo-mandibular Osteoimmunology with a radiation-free tool for detecting foci of inflammation in the jaw.

Literature

The book series on Maxillo-mandibular Osteoimmunology

In Volumes I to IV of the series on “Cavitational Osteolyses of the Jawbone”, the authors describe this little-recognised, largely unknown clinical picture and its immunological-systemic connections.