ABSTRACT
As highlighted in Chapter 1, a biomaterial must be nontoxic to the host body. A simple strategy to be nontoxic is to be nonreactive under biological conditions (bioinert). In reality, no material is completely inert in a living body over a reasonable period of time. Sooner or later, ions or small molecules will be released from implants, introducing foreign body effects on the functional living (physiological) system. In the selection of nontoxic materials, an immediate thought may be those chemicals and elements naturally existing in the body. Hence, let us look at our body first.
