Influence of Surface Texture of Implants on Microorganism – A Review

Abstract

BACKGROUND The development of endosseous osseointegrated dental implants has been very rapid over the past 20 years. The present literature review focuses on evaluating the various modifications done on the surface of dental implant and its influence on microorganisms. We wanted to review the evidence on the surface texture of implants and its influence on microorganisms. METHODS A Medline research was done, and all the information was gathered from various research articles. The keywords on the search pad were “implant”, “surface texture”, “surface modifications “, “biofilm”, “bacterial attachment”, “adhesion”, “microbes”, “antibacterial”, “acid etching”, “subtractive” and “additive” changes. The research publications were searched on Google Scholar and PubMed. Screening of studies which were eligible for the review, quality assessment, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria and data extraction for all the endosseous implants with various surface modifications were checked. Verification of the information was conducted by two reviewers independently to eliminate any bias. The review article included systemic analysis, retrospective study and randomised trials. The results were all initially tabulated comparing the surface modifications with their effect on implant including bacterial resistance, osteogenic, osteoconductive etc. Based on the evidence the results were formulated, and the conclusion was made. RESULTS It’s clear from the evidence that there was no constancy in the results obtained. Each study believes in different techniques and different ideologies of the researcher to improve the microbial resistance either by coating or by surface modification. Due to the varying pattern of results, it is difficult to identify a definite reason for the microbial load over the implant. CONCLUSIONS There was no constancy in the results obtained. Overall, there are many technical solutions to avoid implant failure due to the bacterial load. These technical solutions exhibit a great potential when tried on preclinical models but there is a lack of clinical trial which hinders the achievement of any proper conclusion to build a standard protocol for the manufacturing of dental implants with structural modification. As implants are considered to be the most effective way to replace a missing tooth, standard technique with better surface texture is required to have good strength and better microbial resistance. KEY WORDS Surface Texture, Implant, Biofilm, Microbial Load, Modifications, Antimicrobial, Osseoconductive, Osseointegration