Cavitations are an area of dead or dying bone. They are caused by infections, physical trauma, or a dearth of blood flow to that part of the bone. Though they primarily affect the jawbone, cavitations are able to affect any bone. Jawbone cavitations, also called neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO) if they are associated with pain, are extraction sites in the jaw that have not healed.