Hip replacements have been carried out since the late 1900s, but over 100 years later there are still performance issues with these and other joint replacements – with many expected to only last 10 years before they need corrective surgery. And, with an ageing population this seems to be becoming an ever increasing (and expensive) problem.

Yesterday, I attended a number of talks discussing the state-of-the-art approaches to extending joint replacement lifetimes and those of dental implants (they can become wobbly apparently). Techniques discussed ranged from bioactive glass coatings (to improve fixation) to functionalising the implant surface to discourage bacteria growth. Also interesting was a talk on using cathodoluminescence to study how and why implants structurally fail.

To read more on coatings for joint implants see this recent Chemistry World news article, and to learn more about up and coming dental implants read this Instant insight article published in one of our sister magazines, Highlights in Chemical Science.

Nina Notman