While extensive resorption of alveolar bone can result from trauma, metabolic bone disease, dietary imbalance and expanding or osteolylic lesions, the most common cause for localized, accelerated resorption of alveolar bone are chronic destructive periodontal disease and extraction of teeth. One of the goals of this investigation is to discover a drug or class of drugs that will specifically inhibit the loss of alveolar bone that occurs as a result of chronic periodontal disease. Presently two analogs, 5-Bromo-2-thiophenecarboxyaldyde (5-BTC) and 5-Methyl-2-thiophenecarboxylic (5-MTC), of the thiophene family are candidates for in vivo testing to determine if they can inhibit alveolar bone loss in rats and hamsters with experimentally induced periodontal disease.
