ABSTRACT
The use of metallic materials for medical implants can be traced back to the nineteenth century, leading up to the era when the metal industry began to expand during the Industrial Revolution. The development of metallic implants was primarily driven by the demands for new approaches to bone repair, typically internal fracture fixation of long bones. However, almost no attempts of implanting metallic devices such as spinal wires and bone pins made from iron, gold, or silver were successful, until Lister’s aseptic surgical technique was implemented in the 1860s. Since then, metallic materials have become the most predominant in orthopedic surgery, playing a major role in most orthopedic devices, including temporary devices (e.g., bone plates, pins, and screws) and permanent implants (e.g., total joint replacements). For a detailed historic retrospective on the development of total joint replacements, readers can refer to the Advanced Topic in Chapter 6. Concurrently, metals also found applications in
dental and orthodontic practice, including tooth fillings and roots. Recently, increasing research effort in metallic biomaterials has been invested in the application of the nonconventional reconstructive surgery of hard tissues/organs, such as the application of NiTi shape memory alloys as vascular stents and the development of new magnesiumbased alloys for bone tissue engineering and regeneration.
