Bioactivity Of Glass And Bioactive Glasses For Bone Repair

Since the pioneering work of Prof Hench in the 1960s, glass has found wide applications as an implant material. Successful examples are found in particular with bone repair in surgery and dentistry. Working hypotheses for the behaviour range from gene expression and silicate ions as a growth factor, to chemical equilibrium between apatite and body fluid, but a generally valid explanation is still to be found. The different hypotheses give, however, acceptable working hypotheses for designing glass compositions for particular applications. Fibres, microspheres and porous bodies can be made from bioactive glasses. Several suggestions for clinical applications are given here.