Bioceramics: New Bones for Old

Fine Chinese pottery heralds a new era in bone-repair surgery

In 1880, the outstanding German surgeon Themistocles Gluck felt a moment of euphoria. One of his patients was up on his feet and walking - without limping or feeling pain. The visionary German had saved his patient’s leg from amputation by a new surgical procedure. Gluck had replaced the damaged hip joint, completely destroyed by tuberculosis, with an artificial joint made out of ivory. A new era had begun, where amputation was no longer the best treatment for severe bone damage.

Metal implants are on the way out - thanks to bioceramics

Bone healing

Techniques for bone repair, and prospects for patients, have improved continuously ever since. Nowadays, more than a century on, the scientific quest for the perfect material aimed at bone replacement is an active field of intense research. However, scientists are now viewing the challenge from a different perspective: instead of looking for synthetic materials to substitute bone, why not benefit from bone’s natural ability to heal itself?

Hence, precious and inert ivory has been long forgotten, and scientists are struggling instead to design new materials that not only replace the damage bone, but also promote the regeneration of bone. These revolutionary materials are called bioceramics.

If the word ‘bioceramic’ reminds you of such objects as fine and expensive Chinese pottery - you wouldn’t be far off. They share some basics: both have a porous structure, with non-metallic constituents in their composition. A microscope reveals finely interconnected cavities honeycombing the mineral components of a bioceramic. This structure is very similar to the mineral part of bone, and this goes someway to explaining why bioceramics are suitable substitutes. Bone and bioceramic also share a high percentage, around 60%, of calcium amongst its components.

However, in spite of bone’s mineral appearance, it is a living tissue. Its structure is networked by a complex blood and nutrient supply, allowing our skeleton to stay healthy and grow. In that, Nature’s creation is far better than any bone material made in the lab.