ADA updates guidelines for managing ONJ risk patients
Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: Rabia Mughal, Contributing Editor A patient receiving antiresorptive therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis has a low risk of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), and benefits of the medication outweigh the risk of ONJ, according to an advisory statement from the ADA. The statement, "Managing the Care of Patients Receiving Antiresorptive Therapy for Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis," is based on a literature review by an advisory committee of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs and updates ADA's 2008 advisory statement (Journal of the American Dental Association, November 2011, Vol. 142:11, pp. 1243-1251). ONJ associated with antiresorptive agents has mostly been referred to as bisphosphonate-associated ONJ, but nonbisphosphonate antiresorptive agents are now available that also could be associated with ONJ, the panel noted. That is why they refer to the condition as antiresorptive agent-induced ONJ (ARONJ). A relatively new condition, bisphosphonate-associated ONJ, has received tremendous media attention because of a flurry of lawsuits against the makers of Fosamax and Zometa alleging that the medications led to ONJ. These lawsuits have been a factor in raising patients' and dentists' awareness of the condition, according to Helen Ristic, PhD, director of scientific information for the ADA's Division of Science and one of the panelists who contributed to the report. "The first calls the ADA received from dentists about ARONJ were in response to advertisements by lawyers and media reports," she said. Still, much about the condition remains a mystery, in part because there has not been [...]