What is a Titanium Implant?
Titanium is a strong, lightweight, silver-gray metal that is found fairly commonly in igneous rocks and geological deposits. Titanium has a number of impressive properties, including the ability to bind with human bone in a process called biointegration or osseointegration. Because of this, and the fact that the body will not reject it, this metal can be used for a number of medical and dental purposes. Hip and knee replacements, for example, often involve the use of a titanium implant. The unique properties of titanium make it especially suited to medical applications. It is very strong for its weight, virtually nonmagnetic, and totally compatible with the human body. This is highly noteworthy, because metallic elements are not found in very many places in the human body. Where metals exist, they are almost always there as parts of other molecules and complexes rather than in elemental form. Such is the case with iron, which bonds with oxygen in the bloodstream. About one million pati
