Quantification of red complex microorganisms among patients with different surface-modified dental implants: A prospective clinical study

Abstract

Abstract Aim: Dental implant surface treatments affect microbial adhesion even though they have a significant impact on osseointegration. This study aimed to quantify and compare the total bacterial load and red complex microorganisms among patients with different surface-modified dental implants. Materials and Methods: In this prospective clinical study, 78 patients who had undergone implant placement for missing single posterior tooth in mandible using sandblasted acid-etched and anodized surface dental implants during August 2019–December 2019 were enrolled and were categorized into Group 1 (SLA; n = 27), Group 2 (SLActive; n = 26), and Group 3 (TiUnite; n = 25) based on dental implants’ surface modification. Total bacterial copy count, total red complex copy-count, and copy-count numbers of Treponema denticola, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Tanneralla forsythia were quantified using real‑time polymerase chain reaction assay. Paired t test, one-way analysis of variance, and Tukey’s honest significant difference post hoc were used for data analysis. Results: Total bacterial load, copy-count of P. gingivalis, copy-count of T. forsythia, copy-count of T. denticola, and total red complex load were high in Group 3 as compared to Groups 1 and 2 (P ≤ 0.05). At baseline (P ≤ 0.05) and the 1-year follow-up (P ≤ 0.05), a significant difference was observed between the groups on the pairwise comparison. An intragroup comparison revealed that all three groups had statistically significant differences from the baseline in terms of all the measured variables (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Higher total bacterial count and red complex bacterial count were observed around TiUnite followed by SLA and SLActive dental implants.