New Trends in Bioactive Glasses for Bone Tissue: A Review

Bioactive glasses are very attractive materials, used for tissue engineering materials, usually to fill and restore bone defects. This category of biomaterials, show considerable potential for orthopaedic surgery because they can promote bone tissue regeneration. Many trace elements have been incorporated in the glass network, an example is metallic glasses to obtain the desired properties. Because of tolerable mechanical properties, and because they are able to bond to living bone and stimulate its regeneration, this bioactive glasses have a particular interest and are in a continuous research and improvement. The chapter presents the history of bioactive glasses, classification, include a summary of common fabrication methods, applications, surface coatings, applications and future trends in relation to human bone. This review highlight new trends and areas of future research for bioactive glasses.