Enhanced Osteoblast Adhesion and Proliferation on Vacuum Plasma-Treated Implant Surface

Abstract

In this study, we propose a vacuum plasma device for surface treatment of dental implants. This plasma device was designed to allow direct installation of sealed implant packaging containing the dental implant. In this manner, the dental implant could be treated with plasma under a moderate vacuum environment while remaining in a sterile condition. To assess the osseointegration efficiency, in vitro experiments using sandblasted, large grit, acid etching (SLA), calcium coated-SLA (CaSLA), and calcium coated-SLA with plasma treatment (PCaSLA) were performed. The implant surface was observed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) before and after plasma treatment. Thereafter, protein adsorption, cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation efficiency were investigated on the surface of each implant type using saos-2, an osteoblast. Plasma treatment significantly improved protein adsorption, cell adhesion, and cell proliferation efficiency compared to both CaSLA and SLA without damaging the calcium coating. According to the findings, the proposed vacuum plasma device has shown the potential to improve osseointegration efficiency. We believe that this plasma technology can be an innovative chairside solution that can be easily handled in the clinical field with superb usability.