Ceramics Used As Biomaterials

These are the materials that degrade in the body while being replaced with regenerating tissues 2 hydroxyapatite ca 10 po 4 6 oh 2.

Ceramics used as biomaterials.

Table 1 examples of medical and dental materials and their. Ceramic materials can be identified by their general properties like high hardness brittleness chemical stability and low thermal conductivity. Plaster of paris which is made of calcium sulphate hemihydrate caso4 h2o is also used in radiotherapy to make immobilization casts for patients and in dentistry for modeling of oral tissues. Types of biomaterials ref 1 most synthetic biomaterials used for implants are common materials familiar to the average materials engineer or scientist table 1.

Bioceramics are an important subset of biomaterials. Bioceramics and bioglasses are ceramic materials that are biocompatible. A review of classes of biomaterials and their applications is presented. In gen eral these materials can be divided into the fol lowing categories.

Particular interest is paid to bioceramics calcium phosphates and hydroxyapatite which are the leading biomaterials. Bioceramics range in biocompatibility from the ceramic oxides which are inert in the body to the other extreme of resorbable materials which are eventually replaced by the body after they have assisted repair bioceramics are used in many types of medical procedures. These biomaterials are grouped into bioinert ceramics as alumina and zirconia bioactive glasses and glass ceramics and bioresorbable calcium phosphates based materials. Orthopedic implants hip prostheses etc are probably their most renowned application.

But they are also interesting for a large number of other applications in the dental and bone reconstruction fields in particular. Only within the last 50 years have medical ceramics been incorporated into load bearing applications. Advanced ceramics and traditional ceramics are the main categories of ceramic materials. Metals polymers ceramics and composites.

Bioceramic materials currently used for the repair and reconstruction of hard and soft tissues can be categorized according to composition structure and properties. Ceramics have been used as biomaterials for millennia. These material properties are utilized to produce number of commercial and domestic products such as pottery bricks advanced functional items etc.