Cavitation (bone)

{{Short description|Area of dead or dying bone}}

Cavitations are an area of dead or dying bone. They are caused by infections, physical trauma, or a dearth of blood flow to that part of the bone.{{cite book |last=Chaitow |first=Leon |orig-year=1999 |date=2005 |title=Cranial Manipulation: Theory and Practice: Osseous and Soft Tissue Approaches |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-xWWv1W4YYC&pg=PA349 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Harcourt |page=349 |isbn=0-443-07449-6 |accessdate=2019-12-22 }}

There is little evidence to support the theory of cavitation in the jawbone, and their diagnosis is highly controversial.{{cite web | url=https://quackwatch.org/related/cavitation/ | title=Cavitational Osteopathosis, Bouquot, NICO, and "Biological Dentistry" | Quackwatch | date=18 May 2019 }} Proponents claim they primarily affect the jawbone, yet that cavitations are able to affect any bone.{{cite book |editor1-last=Sinatra |editor1-first=Stephen T. |editor2-last=Houston |editor2-first=Mark C. |date=2015 |title=Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9-iDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT288 |location=Boca Raton, Florida |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4665-7226-3 |accessdate=2019-12-22 }} Jawbone cavitations, also called neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO) if they are associated with pain, might be extraction sites in the jaw that have not healed.{{cite book |title=The Nutrition Solution: A Guide to Your Metabolic Type |last=Kristal |first=Harold |author2=James M. Haig |author3=John Lee |year=2002 |publisher=North Atlantic Books |location=Berkeley |isbn=1-55643-437-5 |pages=216 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PDwP_OJPhyEC&dq=Cavitations&pg=PA216}}