Nanostructures Improve Bone Response To Titanium Implants

There are some alternatives to modulating the body's response after implant placement. Modifying the implant surface topography has been a successful path among the scientific community, with the primary goals of achieving faster bone contact to the implant surface and more predictable results after several years.

A team of Swedish researchers is reporting the results of experiments that focused on structures, so-called 'nanostructures', one million times smaller than a Canadian one-dollar coin. The results demonstrated enhanced bone response to dental implants modified with such small structures as soon as 4 weeks after implant placement.

Modifying the size and distribution of the nanostructures at the implant surface may not only represent a faster and more reliable treatment for patients, but also may help in understanding the sequence of events at the body-implant interface and provide guidelines for the further development of osseointegrated implant surfaces.

This is a summary of an abstract entitled "Nano-size Structures and Enhanced Bone Formation", by L. Meirelles et al., of the University of Göteborg, Sweden, to be presented July 3, 2008 in Toronto, ON, Canada, during the 86th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research.