4. Bone substitutes

The complications associated with autograft bone harvesting, as well as the potential infectious and immunological risks of allografts, have prompted the development of bone substitutes as alternatives to bone grafts. The Société francaise de chirurgie orthopédique et traumatologique (SOFCOT) proposes that bone substitutes be defined as :

"Any biomaterial of human, plant or synthetic origin (i) intended for implantation in humans; (ii) with a view to reconstituting bone stock; (iii) by reinforcing a bone structure or filling a loss of bone substance of traumatic or orthopedic origin".

These bone substitutes are used in a wide range of pathologies involving orthopedic, cranio-maxillofacial and reconstructive, stomatological, otorhinolaryngological and dental surgery, where the loss of substance may be traumatic, tumoral or degenerative in...