In order for silver to have any antimicrobial properties, it must be in its ionized form (Lok et al., 2007; Rai et al., 2009). Silver in its non-ionized form is inert (Guggenbichler et al., 1999), but contact with moisture leads to the release of silver ions (Radheshkumar and Munstedt, 2005). Thus, all forms of silver or silver containing compounds with observed antimicrobial properties are in one way or another sources of silver ions (Ag+); these silver ions may be incorporated into the substance and released slowly with time as with silver sulfadiazine, or the silver ions can come from ionizing the surface of a solid piece of silver as with silver nanoparticles