It’s a Dog’s Life

A Georgia Regents University’s dental school official acknowledged in December that the school would likely continue to conduct research on the mouths of stray dogs solely to test a coating that might inhibit infections in humans’ dental implants. The work is controversial because the only way to study the installed implants is to remove them, after euthanizing the dogs. Also, the research is sponsored by commercial dental-implant companies for a market dominated by elective cosmetic patients. However, a GRU professor noted that implants are also functional, as they inhibit infections that might reach the heart’s lining and other locations.