Mar 14, 2014 |
Dentistry and bioactive glass
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(Nanowerk News) Bioactive glass is a highly biocompatible material because of its bioactivity, osteoconductivity – a scaffold’s ability to support cell attachment and subsequent bone matrix deposition and formation – and even osteoinductivity – a scaffold that encourages osteogenic precursor cells to differentiate into mature bone-forming cells.
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Bioactive glasses – which are different from conventional glasses – are composed of calcium and phosphate which are present in a proportion that is similar to the bone hydroxyapatite. These glasses bond to the tissue and are biocompatible. That's why these materials have found a wide range of medical and dental applications and are currently used as bone grafts, scaffolds and coating material for dental implants.
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Specifically for hard-tissue applications, such as the regeneration and repair of bones and teeth, several bioactive or bioinert materials have been used clinically. Silica-based bioglasses constitute the essential part of such bioactive materials, having already been utilized in numerous orthopedic and dental applications.
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Researchers have even fabricated bioactive glass in nanofibrous form (read more: "Bioactive glass nanofibers as a next-generation biomaterial"). This material, which shows excellent bioactivity, is likely to open the door to the development of new nanostructured bone regeneration materials for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
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Bioglass after healing. The white areas are the bioglass material and the surrounding tissue in this slide is primarily connective tissue.
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Bioactive glasses have different families and each family has a different composition. Some classes of bioactive glasses, like Bioglass™ (45S5), are now being used intraorally as bone grafting material after gaining FDA approval
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In various studies, researchers have shown that, in addition to remineralization, bioactive glasses have antibacterial effects ("Antibacterial effects of a bioactive glass paste on oral microorganisms") as they can raise the pH of aqueous solution ("Antibacterial activity of particulate Bioglass® against supra- and subgingival bacteria").
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A review article ("Bioactive Glass: A Material for the Future") looks at various properties of bioactive glasses and their applications in dentistry and also reviews the changes that can be made in their composition according to a desired application.
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