Phosphate-containing surgical cements

Abstract

New surgical cements for use in medical applications such as orthopedic and maxillofacial surgeries and dental applications are disclosed. These surgical cements comprise a hardened cement formed from a mixture comprising a cementing component selected from the group consisting of ceramics having the formula w(RO)--x(R.sub.2 O)--y(P.sub.2 O.sub.5)--z(X) wherein RO is selected from the group consisting of CaO and mixtures of CaO and MgO, R.sub.2 O is selected from the group consisting of alkali metal oxides and mixtures thereof, X is selected from the group consisting of SO.sub.4 and Cl, and w, x, y and z are the mole fractions of the respective constituents in the ceramic, when X is SO.sub.4, w is in the range of about 0.25 to about 0.5, x is in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.4, y is in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.25 and z is in the range of about 0.01 to about 0.25, and when X is Cl, w is in the range of about 0.25 to about 0.5, x is in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.5, y is in the range of about 0.1 to about 0.25 and z is in the range of about 0.01 to about 0.4 and mixtures thereof; a setting component selected from the group consisting of polyfunctional carboxylic acids containing 2 to about 10 carbon atoms, salts thereof, monobasic phosphate salts and mixtures thereof; and water in an amount effective to form a paste from the mixture which paste hardens into the hardened cement which is biocompatible.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.