Table 1.
Polymers for medical and dental applications.
| Polymer | Purpose of Use | Biodegradation/ Bioresorbability |
Biocompatibility | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poly-lactic acid (PLA) | Barrier membranes, drug delivery, guided tissue regeneration (in dental applications), orthopaedic applications, stents, staples, sutures, tissue engineering | + | + | [2,34,35] |
| Poly-glycolic acid (PGA) | Barrier membranes, drug delivery, guided tissue regeneration (in dental applications), orthopaedic applications, stents, staples, sutures, tissue engineering | + | + | [34,35] |
| Poly-caprolactone (PCL) | Long-term drug delivery, orthopaedic applications, staples, stents | + | + | [2,34,35] |
| poly(1,8 octanediol-co-citrate) (POC) | Mimics the mechanical properties of vessels, support the proliferation of human aortic endothelial cells while inhibiting the proliferation of human aortic smooth muscle cells in vitro, serve as therapeutic coatings to improve the long-term patency of transplants | + | + | [34] |
| Poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) | Barrier membranes, drug delivery, guided tissue regeneration (in dental applications), orthopaedic applications, stents, staples, sutures, tissue engineering | + | + | [34] |
| Polydimethylsiloxane (PMDS) | Uses for production of contact lenses | + | + | [36] |
| Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) | Masses for orthopaedics, surgery and dental prostheses, use in the production of intraocular lenses, gentamicin carrier in the treatment of infected joints | + | + | [1,2,36] |
| Polyethylene (PE) | Acts as a binder in prosthetics as an element of implants | − | + | [36] |
| Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) | Production of sutures, wound dressings, cardiovascular patches, orthopaedic pins, adhesive barriers, stents, guided tissue repair and regeneration devices, articular cartilage repair devices, nerve guides, tendon repair devices, bone marrow scaffolds | + | n/a | [2] |
| poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) | Long-term drug delivery, orthopaedic applications, stapes stents | + | n/a | [35] |
| Poly-para-dioxanone (PPD) | Used in the field of medicine in the form of films, foams, laminates, adhesives and surface coating | + | + | [35] |
| Polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) | Long-term drug delivery, orthopaedic applications, stapes stents | + | n/a | [35] |
| Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) | In the area of implantation, it is used for artificial skull plates, elements of finger and knee joints and spine implants, more and more often in dentistry as an element of abutments, fixed prosthetic skeletons and skeletons of partial skeletal dentures, including precise fixing | + | + | [10,37] |
| Polyphosphazenes (PPZs) | Blood contacting devices, drug delivery, skeletal reconstruction | n/a | n/a | [35] |
| Polydioxanone (PDS) | Fracture fixation in non-load-bearing bones, sutures, wound clip | + | n/a | [35] |
| Polycarbonate (PC) | Blood separators, surgical masks, high pressure syringes, disposable dental devices used in artificial kidney dialysis | − | + | [2] |
| Polyethylene glycol (PEG) | Component of hydrogel dressings successfully used in the treatment of open wounds, they are tested in terms of treatment of nervous system injuries of increasing the effectiveness of gene therapy | + | + | [2] |
| Polyurethane (PUR) | Artificial organs are created, the creation of breast prostheses, an artificial heart, transplants, membranes, catheters, artificial skin, oesophageal prosthesis, channels for nerve regeneration, they began to be used in heart valves and ventricles and in aortic transplants | + | + | [2,36] |
| Polypyrrole (PPy) | A potentially electrically addressable tissue or cell support medium, neuroprosthetics, biosensors and drug delivery | + | n/a | [2,34] |