INORGANIC BIOMATERIALS

A new generation of inorganic implant materials has been developed and used to repair the human body. These bioceramic materials offer improvements in corrosion and wear resistance over metallic and polymeric implants that are used in total joint replacements. Bioactive glasses, ceramics, glass-ceramics, and composites bond to living bone and soft connective tissues and solve problems of interfacial stability and stress shielding of bone. Molecular-orbital modeling of inorganic-biological interfacial reactions combined with sol-gel processing of new bioactive gel glasses and composites offer the promise for the molecular design of biomaterials used for specific disease states and geriatric tissues. However, proof of long-term clinical reliability of the new biomaterials is still needed.