Due to a higher prevalence of osteoporosis, doctors were looking out for faster and cost-effective procedures to treat bone injuries.

By getting inspired by dental reconstruction techniques, scientists from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden reported a new method where acute bone fractures would be treated with a biocompatible adhesive patch providing rigidity of dental resin composites with an extraordinary bonding strength of self-etching primer. The entire procedure would take five minutes to complete.

Michael Malkoch, Professor of Fiber and Polymer Technology at KTH, says "We have finally managed to identify a surgically-realizable adhesive to fix bone fractures; the chemistry, materials and methodology we used resulted in extraordinary adhesion and fixation to the wet bone, which in most cases is incredibly difficult."

The biocompatible adhesive patch was comprised of multiple layers:

1. A self-etching primer was laid directly on the surface of the bone.
2. Placement of a fiber layer upon the area to be treated.
3. Another layer of adhesive was placed on the top.

Finally, the LED light is used for the thiol–ene coupling (TEC) coupling to ensure the bonding reaction.

Malkoch said that the technology was ready for clinical trials and he formed a startup, Biomedical Bonding AB, to commercialize.

Malkoch further added, "We believe that the new findings will lead to a paradigm shift in fracture treatment, which in the future can phase out a large portion of today's metal plates and screws.”