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

Abstract

Titanium is widely used as an implanted material in various clinical applications, especially in orthopedics and dental implantology. Following manufacturing and storage, titanium dental implants have the ability to undergo aging, which renders a reduction in osteoblast cellular activity during the healing process, so advancement of a surface treatment to recreate bioactive implant surfaces are required. Ultra-violet (UV) surface treatment has been introduced as a potential solution to reverse the aging process via removal of hydrocarbon contamination on the surface. This narrative review aimed to discuss the current understanding of the mechanism of titanium aging and provide insights into the mechanism that improves the biocompatibility of titanium implants following UV treatment. Additionally, the findings from preclinical and clinical studies is integratively presented. A reference search was performed through the PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases based on the keywords titanium degradation, titanium aging, photofunctionalization, and UV treatment. Emerging data demonstrated the positive effect of UV light on osteoblast cells with enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity in vitro and increased bone-implant contact in animal studies. Despite limited human studies, the data reported here appear to support the benefit of UV light photofunctionalization on titanium surfaces as an alternative to reverse the titanium aging process. The direction of future research should focus on prospective randomized blinded clinical trials.