Soft tissue cell adhesion to titanium abutments after different cleaning procedures: Preliminary results of a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Objectives: A randomized controlled trial was performed to assess soft tissue cell adhesion to implant titanium abutments subjected to different cleaning procedures and test if plasma cleaning can enhance cell adhesion at an early healing time. Study Design: Eighteen patients with osseointegrated and submerged implants were included. Before re-opening, 18 abutments were divided in 3 groups corresponding to different clinical conditions with different cleaning processes: no treatment (G1), laboratory customization and cleaning by steam (G2), cleaning by plasma of Argon (G3). Abutments were removed after 1 week and scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze cell adhesion to the abutment surface quantitatively (percentage of area occupied by cells) and qualitatively (aspect of adhered cells and presence of contaminants). Results: Mean percentages of area occupied by cells were 17.6 ± 22.7%, 16.5 ± 12.9% and 46.3 ± 27.9% for G1, G2 and G3 respectively. Differences were statistically significant between G1 and G3 (p=0.030), close to significance between G2 and G3 (p=0.056), and non-significant between G1 and G2 (p=0.530). The proportion of samples presenting adhered cells was homogeneous among the 3 groups (p-valor = 1.000). In all cases cells presented a flattened aspect; in 2 cases cells were less efficiently adhered and in 1 case cells presented filipodia. Three cases showed contamination with cocobacteria. Conclusions: Within the limits of the present study, plasma of Argon may enhance cell adhesion to titanium abutments, even at the early stage of soft tissue healing. Further studies with greater samples are necessary to confirm these findings. Key words:Connective tissue, dental abutments, randomized controlled trial, clinical research, glow discharged abutment, plasma cleaning.

Influence of plasma cleaning procedure on the interaction between soft tissue and abutments: a randomized controlled histologic study

“…The clinical significance of this study is limited by the small sample size but is in accordance with a previously published study (Canullo et al. ,b). In the present study, the authors tried to perform additional techniques to analyze the soft tissue (histologic sampling) to improve the preliminary results of the published literature (Canullo et al.…”

“…The results of the present in vivo study confirm the outcomes of the already published interim study (Canullo et al. ,b), where 18 patients were treated with dental implants and 18 abutments were connected at the second surgery. In both studies, the area occupied by cells was higher in the plasma group.…”

“…In the present study, the authors tried to perform additional techniques to analyze the soft tissue (histologic sampling) to improve the preliminary results of the published literature (Canullo et al. ,b).…”

“…The presence of contaminants was demonstrated on the abutment surface during industrial manufacturing process, as well as, after customization procedures (Canullo et al. , ,b; Gehrke et al. ).…”

“…However, a lack of evidence is still present in the literature regarding the clinical relevance of plasma cleaning procedure on dental implant abutments in “ in vivo ” studies (Canullo et al. ,b).…”