Strategies to affect bone remodeling: Osteointegration

Osteointegration was defined as a “direct structural and functional connection between ordered living bone and the surface of a load‐carrying implant.”²⁵ Although osteointegration was meant originally to describe a biologic fixation of the titanium dental implants, it is now used to describe the attachment of other materials used for dental and orthopedic applications as well. Analyses of material‐bone interface showed that osteointegrated implants can have an intervening fibrous layer or direct bone apposition characterized by bone‐bonding⁶² depending on the composition and surface properties of the biomaterial. This article reviews biologic (host tissue properties and response), biomechanical, and biomaterial factors affecting osteointegration. Biologic factors include the quality of bone. Biomaterial factors include the effect of material composition on the bone‐material interface. Suggested areas for future research include determining the correlation between oral bone status and osteoporosis, the effect of gender, age, and endocrine status (e.g., osteoporosis) on implant success or failure, the effect of calcium phosphate coating composition and crystallinity on in vivo performance of implants, the factors contributing to accelerated osteointegration, and development of osteoinductive implants.