Abstract
This report describes the development of bioactive glass ceramic particles and evaluates their use in experimental studies and clinical applications.
1. A preliminary investigation with dogs showed an early initiation of bone formation between glass ceramic particles implanted under the periosteum.
The newly formed bone developed to fill gaps between the glass ceramic particles, indicating the effectiveness of glass ceramic particles in bone restoration.
2. The subjects for the present evalution were 8 cases of atropic mandibular alveolar ridges,12 impacted teeth, and 17 intramaxillary cysts(including radicular cysts).
3. The results were classified as effective, satisfactory, ineffective, and harmful. A very high proportion, 33 or 89.2%, were judged effective or satisfactory.
4. None were evaluated in the harmful category, indicating the safety of the present material.
Among the ineffective cases, there were open wounds due to infection, leakage of the implanted material, and fistula. In case where inflammation had not disappeared at the implantation site due to infection, there were cases where the particles had to be completely removed. It was determined that this was not due to the material, but possibly due to the surgical procedures, as there were no further complications with retreatment.
5. From the above results, it is concluded that the bioactive glass ceramic material is useful as an artificial bone substitute in atrophic mandibular alveolar ridge surgery.
