Prosthesis
An artificial replacement of a part of the body, such as a tooth, a facial bone, the palate, or a joint. A prosthesis may be removable, as in the case of most prosthetic legs or a prosthetic breast form used after mastectomy. Other types of prosthetic devices, such as artificial hips or teeth, are permanently implanted. With advances in medical science, a few experimental prostheses have been integrated with body tissues, including the nervous system. These highly advanced devices can respond to commands from the central nervous system, more closely approximating normal movement and utility than older prostheses.
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- Prosthetic
Referring to a prosthesis, an artificial substitute or replacement of a part of the body such as a tooth, eye, a facial bone, the palate, a hip, a knee or another joint, the leg, an arm, etc. A prosthesis is designed for functional or cosmetic reasons or both. Typical prostheses for joints are the hip, […]
- Prosthodontist
A dentist with special training in making replacements for missing teeth or other structures of the oral cavity, to restore the patient’s appearance, comfort, and/or health.
- Prosthetics
The art and science of developing artificial replacements for body parts. Depending on the type of prosthesis, prosthetics may be built and fitted/implanted in a hospital (as in the case of an artificial knee joint) or by an outside specialist.
- Protean
Very variable; easily changing; or continually changing. Protean is not to be confused with protein (a member of a large group of chemicals necessary to and found in all living things). Protean refers to Proteus, the mythologic master of disguise. According to the ancient Greeks, Proteus was the shepherd who looked after Poseidon’s sea creatures. […]
- Protease
An enzyme that can split a protein into the peptides from which it was originally created.