Acknowledgements

This work was carried out at the Department of Periodontology and Geriatric Dentistry, within the Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Finland.

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Matti Knuuttila, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Periodontology and Geriatric Dentistry, for his guidance, encouragement, and support throughout this work. I also express my sincere thanks to my co-author, Dr. Martti Svanberg, Ph.D., for his advice and help during all these years.

I wish to express my respect and gratitude to Professor Kauko Mäkinen, Ph.D., for his advice and guidance during planning of the experiments, and during preparation of the manuscripts. My other co-authors are also gratefully acknowledged; Docent Vuokko Kovanen, Ph.D., for her advice in planning and accomplishing the analyses of bone collagenous structures, and Dr. Pauli Pökkä, D.D.S., for helping in performing the biochemical and biomechanical analyses.

I am very grateful to the official reviewers of this work, Docent Juha Tuukkanen, Ph.D., and Dr. Mauri Hämäläinen, Ph.D., for their valuable comments and constructive criticism on the manuscript, and to Mrs. Anna Vuolteenaho, M.A., for revising the language of the manuscript.

Dr. Timo Jämsä, Ph.D. is gratefully acknowledged for his help concerning the biomechanical testing of the bones, and Professor Esa Läärä, B.Sc. is acknowledged for advice concerning the statistical analyses. I also want to thank Mrs. Tarja Lassila for her skillful technical assistance, Dr. Eila Kolehmainen, Ph.D., for her advice concerning the biochemical matters, and Mrs. Leena Kaihlavirta, for performing the HPLC analyses.

The staff of the Laboratory Animal Center is acknowledged for taking good care of the animals. The staff of the Library in the Institute of Dentistry is acknowledged for assistance in searching for relevant literature. I also thank the staff of the Laboratory of Photography, especially Mrs. Liisa Kärki, for assistance in photographical matters. Mr. Heikki Könönen, Mr. Reijo Kettunen and Mr. Pasi Moilanen are acknowledged for their advice on computing problems.

My special thanks go to the entire personnel of the Department of Periodontology and Geriatric Dentistry for their friendly and supportive encouragement during this work.

I am also very grateful to the supporters of this work, the Finnish Dental Society, the Oulu University Hospital, and the Foundation of Inkeri and Mauri Vänskä.

Finally, I am deeply indebted to my parents and my family. Their encouragement, support and love has been the fuel of this work.