A healthy mouth helps to live a healthy and happy life. Healthy bone, in which teeth are firmly anchored, is part of a healthy mouth. Bone is very special: It is rock hard and strong, yet sensitive. This is what Professor Astrid Bakker, Professor of Bone Mechanobiology, says in her inaugural lecture.
Similar to muscles, bone diminishes when it is not mechanically loaded, such as what happens with jawbone when someone loses teeth. That's why dentures loosen over time, and it's difficult to place implants in the remaining bone. Bone also diminishes elsewhere in the body due to lack of mechanical loading, leading to potentially very painful fractures. Bakker will research how mechanical loading activates bone cells using the latest cell culture models. She is particularly interested in how this activation is influenced by hormones (such as during menopause) and inflammations. The results of her research contribute to preventing bone loss around teeth and elsewhere, allowing people to live longer, active, and pain-free lives.