Dr. Dovigi is the co-founder and CEO of Stem Cell Implants, Inc. — a biotech startup in La Jolla, California — with ambitions of transforming implant dentistry through stem cell technology. Stem cells have regenerative capabilities that were first recorded in 1957 bone marrow transplant cases.¹ In the decades since, many potential medical uses for stem cells have been discovered, including their ability to both regenerate and grow new bone.

That’s where Stem Cell Implants steps in. 

With well over 50% of implant procedures requiring some form of hard- or soft-tissue grafting,²  Stem Cell Implants strives to address a widespread need.

Dr. Dovigi plans to develop an off-the-shelf suite of regenerative products, including bone grafts and implants. The company’s unique technology will generate living bone with more predictability and faster healing times than current grafting materials.  

For dental implant recipients with medical complications that may impact their healing, this technology offers a possible solution, making dental implant treatment available to people who currently are not good candidates.

Stem cell technology will also facilitate treatment of larger bone defects, such as atrophic mandibles. It will be possible to create a block of the patient’s living bone for transplantation to these defects, and to place implants into that bone.  

For cases where poor bone quality affects the implant prognosis, another proposed solution is a dental implant that is pre-osseointegrated in vitro in the company’s lab using the patient’s living bone. That implant or bone complex could then be implanted in the site.

In 2006, researchers first identified a process that allows adult cells to be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells, which can differentiate into any of the specialized cells in the body. Called “induced pluripotent stem cells,” they are already used in therapies for Parkinson’s disease and type 1 diabetes, as well as in-bone regeneration.^3,4,5

Stem Cell Implants is also working with allogeneic types called mesenchymal stem cells, which are considered multipotent. Pluripotent and multipotent cells differ in that the former can develop into all types of the body’s cells, with the latter limited to a specific cell type.⁶

Multipotent cells are found to be useful in regenerating bone.⁷ In addition, assorted trials have found patients don’t reject mesenchymal stem cells that are not of their own cells.⁸ Using mesenchymal stem cells, Stem Cell Implants hopes to also produce an off-the-shelf vital bone graft product that would not be rejected by the patient.

Dr. Dovigi came to the United States from his native Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, where he sold his general practice to pursue specialty training in oral pathology. After a three-year residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Dovigi moved west to the Phoenix area, where he saw a need for oral pathology services.

While getting his practice off the ground, Dr. Dovigi became a faculty member at Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine. His duties included helping establish the oral pathology curriculum as well as a research department at a time when the university did not have a building or a clinic. Dr. Brent Vernon, director of the Center for Interventional Biomaterials at Arizona State University, opened ASU’s biomedical engineering department to Dr. Dovigi’s Midwestern University dental students. 

Dr. Dovigi transitioned from academia to a position at a La Jolla-based biotech company focusing on stem cells, and witnessed the use of pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine. Dr. Dovigi came to the realization that dental patients did not have access to this biotechnology and decided that he was in the right place at the right time to bring this to dentistry.

Stem Cell Implants launched in 2023, with Dr. Dovigi once again collaborating with ASU’s Dr. Vernon, who now serves as Stem Cell Implants’ chief science officer.

Technological, logistical, regulatory and economic hurdles are all common to biotech start-ups. Dr. Dovigi and the team at Stem Cell Implants are working to overcome these inherent challenges. The start-up is in the fundraising phase with an aggressive timeline.  Delivering an affordable product to dentists is a primary focus for Stem Cell Implants. The company seeks to benefit as many dental implant recipients as possible, giving surgeons a better option for bone and soft-tissue grafting procedures.

According to Dr. Dovigi, the science is ready. Stem Cell Implants’ mission is to spearhead the effort to bring that science from the lab to chairside. Making this vision a reality offers the promise of a future where both dentists and patients have more options and better outcomes.