Bone is a self-healing part of the body, which if damaged, repairs itself in
the natural course of events. However, this healing process is deficient if the defect is
too large or malignant to mend naturally. Bone regeneration is an age-dependent
phenomenon where the older generation is at a disadvantage as compared to the
younger generation due to the compromised biological performance as a result of
aging. Therefore, it is crucial to create novel and effective ways to treat bone-related
troubles. Bioactive glasses (BGs) and glass ceramics (GCs) belong to the thirdgeneration bioactive materials. They not only have the potential to survive in the harsh
physiological environment but can also renovate the defects present around them. They
also come with the advantage of tunable chemical, physical, and biological properties.
Designing an implant or scaffold while playing with distinct characteristics of metals,
polymers, and ceramics, bestows a large selection pane in front of humankind for
customized and patient-specific products. In this chapter, an overview of the recent
advances in the BGs and GCs application in coatings and hydrogels for bone tissue
engineering (BTE) is presented. BGs and GCs incorporated coatings and hydrogels
loaded with metallic ions, growth factors, and biomolecules provide a complete bundle
of features essential for bone repair and growth. Although many BGs and CGs-based
products have made it into the market, some inherent challenges like high brittleness
and low fracture toughness persist to overcome to date.
Keywords: 3D printed, Antibacterial, Bioactivity, Bioceramics, Biomaterials, Biopolymers, Bone, Coatings, Degradation, Electrospinning, Glasses, Hydrogels, Hydroxyapatite, Metallic ions, Osteoconductive, Osteointegration, Regeneration, Resorbable, Scaffolds, Tissue engineering.
