A novel classification of bone graft materials

Over the past few decades, the field of biomaterials concerning bone tissue engineering has gained a significant amount of interest. This has led to new biomaterials to be used as bone substitute materials. Despite the rapid increase in the types and forms of bone substitutes, a comprehensive classification encompassing all types of bone graft materials that have so far been developed and evaluated is lacking. Therefore, this review aims to integrate and bring together the published data on bone substitutes within the last 5 years and produce a novel classification that would provide bone material researchers with a better understanding of what materials have so far been used and evaluated and the areas, where research is lacking and deserves more attention. The literature available in all major databases was obtained and filtered using an elimination criterion to extract all the articles related to studies that tested bone substitute materials in nonclinical and clinical trials over the last 5 years. The review article would provide bone material researchers with an insight into the materials that have been evaluated for bone tissue engineering applications and identify future perspectives for bone graft material research.