Osteonecrosis of jaw (onj): impact of italian patients, and role of italian physicians, dentists, and researchers in the growing evidence of a “new” disease

Purpose: Osteonecrosis of jaw (ONJ) is an uncommon but severe complication observed mostly in patients treated with bisphosphonates (BPs) for bone metastases, myeloma, osteoporosis (so called BRONJ, Bisphosphonate-Related Osteonecrosis of Jaw), but also with other drugs (bevacizumab, sunitinib, denosumab). The number of cases observed in Italy appears high in comparison with other countries and we present a review of several aspects of ONJ in Italy and the role of Italian health professionals and researchers on increasing knowledge and adequate reporting of ONJ phenomenon; Methods: Literature review about osteonecrosis of jaw (ONJ) with selection of Italian authors and publications, on year 2003-2011, by research on international electronic journal databases, Italian language journals, congress acta, web sources; Results: at October 2011, among 1272 papers published worldwide on ONJ issue, 128 (10%) were from Italian Authors; Conclusions: relevant articles by Italian groups were published about pathogenesis hypotheses, animal models, biology studies, risk factors, preventive measures, dental extraction protocols in BP-exposed patients, laser therapy, ozone therapy, surgical treatment. Experience of Italian patients suffering from ONJ, together with work of Italian dentists, physicians and researchers, appears of paramount importance in order to study ONJ and minimize a possible severe side-effect of efficacious medical treatments.