Purpose: To determine the histological effects of ultraviolet light and cold atmospheric plasma treatment on the osseointegration of titanium implants in vivo.
Materials and methods: Six juvenile pigs were divided into three groups of two animals each. A total of 54 titanium implants were placed randomly in the pigs’ calvarial bone (nine implants per pig). Of these, 18 implants served as untreated controls. The remaining 36 implants served as the experimental group and were treated with either ultraviolet light or argon plasma for 12 minutes each prior to insertion. Two pigs in each group were kept until 2, 4 and 8 weeks and then sacrificed. Resonance frequency analysis was conducted after implant placement and at the time of sacrifice. Osseointegration was evaluated using microcomputed tomography scans and histomorphometrical analysis.
Results: After initial loss, all implants showed a constant increase in implant stability quotient values over time without significant differences between the groups. The bone–implant contact values increased steadily for all implants over 8 weeks of healing. Surface-treated implants showed significantly higher bone–implant contact values compared to untreated implants at each time point. Bone area fraction occupancy values were almost always higher following both treatment methods; however, differences were only significant after 4 and 8 weeks for the cold atmospheric plasma group and after 4 weeks for the ultraviolet light group.
Conclusions: Ultraviolet light and cold atmospheric plasma may improve histomorphometrical osseointegration of titanium implants significantly.
Keywords: dental implant, plasma gases, titanium, ultraviolet rays
This research project was supported by a grant from the Oral Reconstruction Foundation (Basel, Switzerland), grant number CF11501. The funding source had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, writing of the study or the decision to submit the article for publication. The plasma and ultraviolet light devices and the titanium and zirconia samples were provided free of charge by Diener Electronic (Ebhausen, Germany) and Ushio (Tokyo, Japan). No advantages of any kind were received either directly or indirectly by the authors. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest relating to this article.
