Dynamic assessment of titanium surface oxides following mechanical damage reveals only partial passivation under inflammatory conditions.

Motivated by clinical problems of titanium implant degradation, we developed a workflow that enabled assessment of surface oxide dynamics as a function of clinical interventions and inflammation conditions. We found that mechanical damage led to decrease of stoichiometric TiO ratio in the passivation oxide film and further resulted in accelerated degradation under inflammatory anaerobic conditions. This method can be employed for the assessment of surface oxides to monitor implant safety.