Time course of surface characteristics of alkali‐ and heat‐treated titanium dental implants during vacuum storage

Abstract

Current efforts to shorten the healing times of life-long dental implants and prevent their fouling by organic impurities have focused on using surface-modification treatments and alternative packaging, respectively. In this study, we investigated the time course of the surface characteristics, including the wettability, a protein-adsorption and apatite-formation abilities, of alkali- and heat-treated (AH-treated) Ti samples during storage in vacuum over a period of 52 weeks. The AH treatment resulted in the formation of a nanometer-scale needle-like rougher surface of the Ti samples. Although the water contact angle of the AH-treated Ti sample increased slightly, it remained as low as approximately 10° even after storage in vacuum for 52 weeks. There was no significant difference in the protein-adsorption and apatite-formation abilities of the AH-treated Ti sample before and after storage. Further, the AH-treated Ti sample exhibited greater protein-adsorption and apatite-formation abilities compared with the untreated one; regardless of the samples stored in vacuum or not. Apatite formed only on the AH-treated Ti surface. Therefore, subjecting Ti dental implants to the AH treatment and storing them in vacuum should help prevent their surfaces from getting contaminated. Further, it is expected that AH-treated Ti dental implants controllably aged during a shelf storage will exhibit high stability and bone-bonding bioactivity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1453-1460, 2017.

Titanium and Protein Adsorption: An Overview of Mechanisms and Effects of Surface Features

“…Increase of surface activity is achieved by a three-step mechanism: Removal of hydrocarbon contaminants; induced surface hydrophilicity; change of the surface charge from negative to positive. Medical devices would probably be stored for a very long time before usage, up to 5 years [ 185 ], therefore removal of atmospheric contaminants is a priority. This will be discussed deeply later in Section 4.1 .…”

“…Biological properties of titanium need to be preserved even through the long-lasting storage of the biomedical devices, up to five years. Implants and dental screw are usually enclosed in a sterile gas-permeable packaging, which keeps the contents sterile but allows contamination of the surfaces by the carbonaceous organic impurities in the atmosphere [ 185 , 200 ]. Very recent molecular dynamic studies performed by Wu et al [ 201 ] demonstrated that carbon contaminants expose C-H bonds, thus greatly reducing surface polarity and dipole–dipole interactions with proteins.…”

“…Ca-containing solution can benefit from the protein bridging effects of adsorbed ions and the cellular affinity for these ions. Vacuum storage proved to retain biological activity of alkali-heat treated titanium eve after one year [ 185 ]. Wilhelmi et al [ 50 ] confirmed, through time of flight secondary ions mass spectroscopy (Tof-SIMS) analysis, that the maximum adsorption of BSA on cp-Ti is obtained for solution at pH 5.2, and decrease with increasing pH values.…”

An Integrated Overview of Ultraviolet Technology for Reversing Titanium Dental Implant Degradation: Mechanism of Reaction and Effectivity

“…In a study comparing preferable storage media, Wennerberg et al [62] suggested that, unlike that of pure water, wet storage in aqueous solution reorganized the TiO 2 nanostructures. Kamo et al [63] suggested that the use of gas-barrier (vacuum) packaging during shelf storage resulted in better wettability, and hence, greater protein adsorption compared with the use of a gas-permeable container.…”

Ultraviolet A and Ultraviolet C Light-Induced Reduction of Surface Hydrocarbons on Titanium Implants

“…Commercially available implants are inevitably contaminated with hydrocarbons in their packaging, 1 with an average percentage ranging from 17.9% to 76.5%. 2 Increase in carbon content decreases the hydrophilicity, thus increasing the chances of implant failure.…”