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Fleetwood Mac founder
produces latest work in Conejo Valley studio |
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New technique used to
treat burn victims is now fixing mouths |
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Dr. Imberman
restores gums using techniques developed for burn victims |
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For millions of Americans,
receding gums is unsightly and causes tooth sensitivity.
A new cosmetic procedure being performed by Westlake
Village periodontist, Dr. Michael Imberman, offers patients
complete root coverage and gum restoration through the
use of an acellular dermal matrix called Alloderm™.
Dr. Michael Imberman, a specialist in periodontics who
also studied biochemistry in graduate school, has spent
the last five years facilitating this groundbreaking
procedure.
"I find it incredibly rewarding to improve my patients'
self-image with minimal discomfort through the use of
this new procedure. Due to the unlimited supply of the
Alloderm material, I can complete full mouth procedures
in one session under local anesthetic." |
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Derived from donated skin tissue, Alloderm
works as a biologic scaffold for normal tissue growth.
After placement of Alloderm, the patient's gums immediately
begin rebuilding and within six to eight weeks the Alloderm
becomes completely healthy gum tissue.
Created by LifeCELL laboratories in Houston, Texas,
Alloderm was introduced into the medical field in 1994
as treatment for burn victims. Instead of using skin
grafts from undamaged regions of the victim's body,
a trained surgeon can now replace missing or damaged
tissue with the acellular components from donated human
skin. Alloderm is also commonly used in many plastic
surgical procedures. Recently, doctors have discovered
how to use Alloderm to re-grow healthy gum tissue. "To
this day many doctors have difficulty with the procedure,
but we have successfully completed hundreds of grafts,"
says Imberman.
Dr. Imberman began researching regenerative medicine
during his residency at Boston University, by publishing
a thesis on collagen production in cell culture. According
to Dr. Imberman, the procedure has minimal pain and
is highly effective in stopping receding gums and replacing
lost tissue.
Before doctors had the ability to use the acellular
structure from donated skin, gum grafts were performed
by removing tissue from the roof of a patient's mouth,
causing additional wounds and discomfort. The alternative
to this was a synthetic graft that oftentimes was rejected.
Alloderm is processed by completely removing all cellular
contents prohibiting the transmission of the viruses
that depend on living cells to survive. There has never
been a single reported case of a virus or disease transferred
in more than 100,000 grafts performed.
Dr. Imberman remains on the cutting edge of research
and says the next monumental advances in tissue transplants
are only five to ten years away. Enthusiastically, he
explains that labs are diligently working on a skin-growing
technique that will allow minimal tissue samples to
be taken from patients and cultivated into sheets of
their own skin. "It's amazing to see how far regenerative
medicine has come, especially since this is the field
I started my research in almost 20 years ago." |
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