CHAPTER 1: Unique Nature of Phosphate and Borate Bioactive Glasses

In recent years, as new fields in biomedical applications have emerged, considerable attention has been devoted to glass materials for their ability to promote bone formation and their application for the treatment and repair of soft tissue. So far, silicate-based glasses have been widely applied as biomedical glasses. In some cases, however, silicate-based glasses are not suitable for all applications. Phosphate-based and borate-based glasses are proposed as attractive alternatives. They are prospective biomaterials, because their structures are controllable and their characteristic ion-releasing behaviour can be tuned.