Ionizing radiation effects on osseointegration: a pre-clinical study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single dose of ionizing radiation (30 Gy) on the osseointegration of implants in the rabbit tibia. Twenty rabbits received two dental Morse-tapered junction implants and one implant in each tibia. The animals were randomly divided into two groups (n=10), non-irradiated (NoIr) and irradiated (Ir), wherein the Ir group received a single dose of 30 Gy radiation 2 weeks after implant installation. Microtomographic analyses (BV/TV) and histomorphometric assessments (BIC and BABT) were performed 4 weeks after implant installation. One-way ANOVA, Tukey's test, and Student's t-test (α=0.05) were used for data analysis. The results showed that BV/TV did not differ significantly between the Ir and NoIr groups (P = 0.071). In the histomorphometric analysis, neither BIC nor BABT showed significant differences between the NoIr and Ir groups (p>0.05). In conclusion, ionizing radiation in dental implants does not appear to interfere with osseointegration when installed prior to irradiation.