Bone tissue formation within a sintered microporous glass-fiber network implanted in extraction sockets in the rat

Implants were prepared by sintering glass-fibers into a three-dimensional network with meshes smaller than 20 micron. Oblong 5 x 2 x 0.15 mm sheets of the test material were implanted in maxillary incisor alveoli in eight white rats. The alveoli were closed with a suture in the overlying mucosa. After 3 months the animals were sacrificed and sections from the site of implantation prepared. In three animals only root remnants were found but in the remaining five the implants were wholly or partially embedded in bone tissue. Sections studied with transmitted light, microradiography, and scanning electron microscopy showed that mineralized tissue had also formed within the pores of the network. The intimate contact between the individual fibers and the bone within the network was corroborated through microchemical analysis (EDX).