Bioresorbable skeletal fixation systems in craniofacial surgery

Abstract

Today the use and advances of bioresorbable biomaterials in skeletal fixation is in a process of major evolution in the applications and understanding of all fixation devices. Craniofacial skeletal fixation is an essential element in the stabilization of the different components of any bony components in the biological system. The rigid fixations of the craniofacial skeletal represent a major biological region in the human skeleton where such applications produce the desired stability with maximal advantages and minimal disadvantages to any existing systems in present use. This shift in the evolutionary status, from overusing metallic components to a move of avoiding the use of metallic implants, particularly in infants and in children, to the total applications of resorbable material in all applications in the craniofacial skeleton and in all age groups, is because of the complications and safety to the patients. The metallic implants, once popular and in wide variety of uses in the 1980s, are falling by the wayside as the application and sophistication in the resorbable components become more accepted by the practicing surgeons working, in particularly, on all components of the craniofacial skeleton. The craniofacial skeleton is a unique component of the skeletal system for its proximity to the central nervous system on one hand and to the contaminates oropharyngeal airway on the other hand.