Bio-Glasses. An Introduction

This new work is dedicated to glasses and their variants which can be used as biomaterials to repair diseased and damaged tissues. Bio-glasses are superior to other biomaterials in many applications, such as healing bone by signaling stem cells to become bone cells. Key features: First book on biomaterials to focus on bio-glasses Edited by a leading authority on bio-glasses trained by one of its inventors, Dr Larry Hench Supported by the International Commission on Glass (ICG) Authored by members of the ICG Biomedical Glass Committee, with the goal of creating a seamless textbook Written in an accessible style to facilitate rapid absorption of information Covers all types of glasses, their properties and applications, and demonstrates how glass is an attractive improvement to current procedures Of interest to the biomedical as well as the materials science community. The book covers all types of glasses: traditional glasses, bioactive glasses, sol-gel glasses, phosphate glasses, glass-ceramics, composites and hybrids. Alongside discussion on how bio-glasses are made, their properties, and the reasons for their use, the authors also cover their applications in dentistry, bone regeneration and tissue engineering and cancer treatment. Its solid guidance describes the steps needed to take a new material from concept to clinic, covering the essentials of patenting, scale-up, quality assurance and FDA approval.