When I was CEO of IMTEC Corporation in Ardmore, one of the products we sold to periodontists was demineralized bone. Periodontists used that product to pack openings in their patient’s gums after they scraped bacteria away.
But where does the bone come from?
One source was Russian corpses. I met a doctor in San Francisco who made a lot of money dealing in dead Russians.
He had several sources in Moscow and Saint Petersburg who constantly looked for dead Russians, most homeless drunks who died in alleys or on the streets.
When they found one, they’d put it in a wooden box filled with straw and ice and ship it to my doctor friend in San Francisco.
He’d then ship it to different locations where specialists would harvest bone from the shoulders, pelvic area and arms and legs of the corpse.
Under strict FDA guidelines, the specialists would grind the bone into tiny containers and ship them to IMTEC. We’d process the bone and sell it.
I saw that operation in a rather plain building in Dayton, Ohio and was very impressed with what I witnessed.
But what happened to the dismembered Russians after the procedure? The FDA approved everything involved but didn’t want the corpses buried in America. So, after the dismemberment, the American companies would ship the remains back to my doctor friend who’d ship them back to the USSR. That’s where my knowledge ended because I never learned anything else.
-james a. clark