When surgeons suggest using ceramics as an adjunct to a posterior lumbar fusion they aren’t meaning chips of your dinner plates. They use base substances that form ceramics, such as B-tricalcium phosphate or hydroxyapatite. In scientific studies these types of substances have been shown to attract osteopromotive cells called mesenchymal cells. It was then shown in animal studies that these substances needed to be used in conjunction with bone marrow cells in order to see positive bone growth. It is in this way that ceramics have become an option as a bone graft extender to increase the amount of bone available.