CONTAMINATED IMPLANT SURFACES - AN IN-VITRO COMPARISON OF IMPLANT SURFACE COATING AND TREATMENT MODALITIES FOR DECONTAMINATION

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMPLANT SURFACES and decontamination treatmen ts was studied in vitro to determine which implant surfaces were most effectively decontaminated, and which treatment was most effective for treating a particular implant surface. The implants used in the study were press fit cylindrical titanium units with machined, plasma spray ed, and hydroxyapatite-coated surfaces. Radioactive endotoxin (I-125-L PS) was prepared from Porphyromonas gingivalis (ATCC 33277). Implants were coated with I-125-LPS and treated by burnishing with a cotton pel let soaked in water, citric acid solution (CA), or 0.12% chlorhexidine (CHX); or treated with an air-powder abrasive (AIR). Radioactivity wa s determined after each of two treatment cycles. The results for each implant surface were analyzed using ANOVA to determine differences bet ween treatments. The remaining I-125-LPS after two treatment cycles we re: for machined implants AIR < CA, with AIR = water = CHX and water = CHX = CA; for plasma sprayed implants AIR<water = CHX = CA; for hydro xyapatite implants AIR = CA <water<CHX. In evaluating treatment modali ties, it was found that machined implants were decontaminated more eff ectively than the other surfaces by all treatments; the exception was citric acid treatment which was equally effective on either machined o r hydroxyapatite surfaces. These results indicate that machined implan ts (without surface coating) are most readily decontaminated by a vari ety of methods; this characteristic should be considered, since long-t erm success of implants may involve treating peri-implantitis. Further , the results indicate that air abrasives are effective for decontamin ating implant surface, with the exception that hydroxyapatite coated s urfaces can be treated equally with air abrasives or citric acid.