Surface-conditioned dental implants: an animal study on bone formation.

Bernd Stadlinger, Anna Theresa Lode, Uwe Eckelt, Ursula Range, Falko Schlottig, Thomas Hefti, Ronald Mai

Index: J. Clin. Periodontol. 36(10) , 882-91, (2009)

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether bone formation around surface-conditioned implants is enhanced compared with non-surface-conditioned sandblasted acid-etched titanium implants.One hundred and forty-four implants were placed in the mandible of 18 minipigs. Before placement, implants were either surface conditioned in a solution containing hydroxide ions (conSF) or assigned to controls. Animals were euthanized after 2, 4 and 8 weeks of submerged healing, the 8-week group receiving polyfluorochrome labelling at week 2, 4, 6 and 8. One jaw quadrant per animal was selected for histological and histomorphometrical evaluation of mineralized bone-implant contact (mBIC), osteoid-implant contact (OIC) and bone volume (BV) analysis.Polyfluorochrome labelling showed no general differences in bone dynamics. mBIC showed the most pronounced differences after 2 weeks, reaching 65.5% for conSF compared with 48.1% for controls, p=0.270. Differences levelled out after 4 weeks (67.4% control, 65.7% conSF) and 8 weeks (64.0% control, 70.2% conSF). OIC levels were initially comparable, showing a slower decline for conSF after 4 weeks. BV was higher for conSF at all times. No significant differences could be found.A tendency towards increased mBIC was shown for surface-conditioned implants after short-term healing.