Influence of surface treatment on osseointegration of dental implants: histological, histomorphometric and radiological analysis in vivo.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this article is to compare the influence of surface treatment on the integration (at 2, 4 and 8 weeks) of 120 dental implants inserted in 60 tibiae of rabbits.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Four different surfaces were double-blind tested: blasted, acid-etched and discrete crystal deposition (DCD) (group A); blasted (group B); acid-etched (group C) and blasted and acid-etched (group D). Bone-to-implant contact plus reverse torque and bone level were measured at the time of implant insertion and at 14, 28 and 56 days of healing.

RESULTS

Group A showed the highest early and late bone-to-implant contact (BIC) values: 40.8 ± 2.3 % at 14 days decreasing to 27.7 ± 1.1 % after 28 days and 39.4 ± 1.4 % at 56 days. For group B, the average BIC values at 14, 28 and 56 days were 23.34 ± 2.1, 23.77 ± 1.9 and 29.47 ± 1.7 %, respectively. Group C showed a value of 25.72 ± 2.3 % after 14 days of integration, 34.92 ± 2.2 % at 28 days and 32.91 ± 1.6 % at 56 days. Group D showed a BIC value of 32 ± 2.5 % at 14 days, 32.85 ± 1.4 % at 28 days and 34.04 ± 2.3 % at 56 days. In the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, no statistically significant differences were found. The Ca/P ratio values were 1.762 for surface A, 1.625 for surface B, 1.663 for surface C and finally 1.722 for surface D.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, we conclude that even if there seems to be a tendency to obtain better BIC results with surface A (blasted-etched and covered with hydroxyapatite (HA)), no statistical differences were obtained in this study.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The study shows the influence of different implant surfaces in increasing osseointegation for immediate loading implants.