Bioactive Ceramic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering by Powder Bed Selective Laser Processing: A Review

The implementation of a powder bed selective laser processing (PBSLP) technique for bioactive ceramics, including selective laser sintering and melting (SLM/SLS), a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) approach is far more challenging when compared to its metallic and polymeric counterparts for the fabrication of biomedical materials. Direct PBSLP can offer binder-free fabrication of bioactive scaffolds without involving postprocessing techniques. This review explicitly focuses on the PBSLP technique for bioactive ceramics and encompasses a detailed overview of the PBSLP process and the general requirements and properties of the bioactive scaffolds for bone tissue growth. The bioactive ceramics enclosing calcium phosphate (CaP) and calcium silicates (CS) and their respective composite scaffolds processed through PBSLP are also extensively discussed. This review paper also categorizes the bone regeneration strategies of the bioactive scaffolds processed through PBSLP with the various modes of functionalization through the incorporation of drugs, stem cells, and growth factors to ameliorate critical-sized bone defects based on the fracture site length for personalized medicine.