HYDROXYAPATITE COATINGS

A series of investigations over the past several years has evaluated a number of implant materials with and without plasma-sprayed hydroxyap atite (HA) coatings for use in load-bearing implant applications. HA-c oated implants have exhibited greater interface shear attachment chara cteristics when compared to uncoated implants; these results have been demonstrated with dense (flat), porous-coated, and macrotextured impl ant surfaces. Maximum attachment strength also was found to occur with in a shorter period of time postoperatively with the HA-coated samples , indicating a more rapid tissue adaptation to the implant surfaces. P lasma-sprayed HA coatings provide an osteophilic and osteoconductive s urface that increases both the bone-implant attachment strength, as we ll as the rate of bone adaptation to the HA-coated implant surface.