DENTISTRY

In this study possible applications of bioceramics like hydroxyapatite (HA) and bioglass in dentistry have been studied. HA was derived from freshly extracted human teeth in laboratory conditions as plasma coating and grafting material and basic techniques for material characterization were performed. The HA produced by this method is simple and economical when compared with conventional methods which are mtedious and time consuming. Bioglass compositions used in this study, were produced from reagent grade fine chemicals and some porous structures were prepared. Implant prototypes prepared from titanium rods, were coated with HA powder using a plasma coating unit.
The HA produced by this method has been demonstrated to have the potential to become a superior graft material in veterinary orthopedics. Plasma spraying studies agreed with the results in the literature. Pathological results of the animal studies have been affirmative. For animals nuclear bone scintigraphy studies were performed to follow the osseointegration process in HA/ bioglass grafting cases. It was observed that bone scintigraphy was a valuable method to follow the metabolic activity of bone cells when compared with planar X-ray films.
Graft studies were also performed using plaster of Paris which is another bioceramic. An active drug delivery system was evaluated based on its rapid solubility characteristics. Pathological results and high performance liquid chromatography results indicated that this material has potential as a drug delivery system