Hi Mark:
Your three legged stool analogy is helpful in forming a picture of the structural realities confronting the ADR surgeon who is tasked with "remodelling" vertebral bone and implanting ADR's.
The issue of "bone wax" is vexing because the complete removal of osteophytes is, as I understand it, the key to a successful multi-level ADR surgery. E.G.: there's no sense in having an ADR implanted if the implanted level is only going to auto-fuse sometime soon, say within a decade of the ADR implantation, especially when there are multiple levels implanted. Thus my concern about osteophyte removal and the prevention, in a "healthy" manner, of the regeneration of these pesky bone deposits.
As you have mentioned in the past the methods surgeons use to prevent the regrowth of these spurs is the application of "bone wax" to the area where bone has been removed, especially bone which has been removed aggressively thus probably triggering the body's tendancy to just as aggressively attempt to replace this "missing" bone. One doesn't simply want a latent problem replacing an overt one, nor to end up with exactly what one sets out to avoid, auto-fusion. The dynamics of this aspect of spine surgery, osteophyte removal and the prevention of their regrowth, are complex and far beyond my understanding of this ssurgery. However as can be seen from my previous posts gaining a basic understanding of this issue is in my view essential to the responsible treatment of one's spine disease.
It would be fantastic if you could consult your top docs about the material they use for "bone wax", and in their opinion the cons if any, arising from the use of this material.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Good luck.
