New Publication: Combining Bone Dust and Bioactive Glass for Improved Defect Healing
In their newly published article, “Improvement of the Obliteration of Non-Critical Size Defects by Using a Mixture of Bone Dust and Bone Replacement Material (Bioactive Glass S53P4)”, Max Kemper, Anne Kluge, Ines Zeidler-Rentzsch, Susanne Isabella Günther, and Marcus Neudert investigate the synergistic effects of combining two commonly used obliteration materials: autologous bone dust (BD) and bioactive glass S53P4 (BA).
The study was conducted using a large animal model (sheep) with surgically induced cranial bone defects. Each animal received four defect fillings: BA alone, BD alone, a combination of both materials, and one unfilled control. After three weeks, the healing outcomes were assessed using digital volume tomography, bone density measurements, histology, and fluorochrome labeling. In parallel, human bone dust samples were analyzed in vitro to examine how harvesting conditions affect osteogenic potential.
The results showed that the mixture of BD and BA led to faster and more compact defect filling, combining the osteogenic properties of BD with the antibacterial and space-maintaining properties of BA. While BA alone provided the highest radiodensity, only the combination achieved significant new bone formation both centrally and peripherally within the defect. The authors conclude that harvesting bone dust at lower drilling speeds (7,000–15,000 rpm) preserves cell vitality and that combining BD with BA may offer a promising approach to improve clinical outcomes in bone defect reconstruction, especially in otologic and craniofacial surgery.