Comparison of Surface Processes Applied to Preserve the Hydrophilic Property of Implants

Today, studies are carried out on many surface modification techniques to improve the surface properties of dental implants. The common goal of all these studies is to increase cell retention on the implant surface and to perform implantation with high biomechanical properties and biocompatibility. Anodized implants are hydrophilic due to their surface properties. The hydrophilic nature of the implant surface has been found to be beneficial for osseointegration in many studies. After the implant surface anodization process, the hydrophilicity on the surface is at the highest level and the hydrophilic feature on the surface decreases as it comes into contact with air. Many commercially hydrophilic implants lose their hydrophilic properties early in their shelf life. Researchers are in search of longer preservation of hydrophilic properties in implants. In our study, we aimed to preserve the hydrophilic feature on the titanium surface for a longer time by forming a thin layer of NaCl on the surface by cleaning the Ti Gr4 1cm3 plate pieces immediately after the micro-arc oxidation process and dipping them into isotonic NaCl solution. The study was done in 5 groups. In the first group, titanium was cleaned after the micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process and the water contact angle (WCA) on the surface was measured. The remaining 4 groups were divided as MAO applied and 15 days passed, MAO + NaCl applied and 15 days passed, MAO applied and 30 days passed, MAO + NaCl applied and 30 days passed. Water contact angle measurements were made for all groups and their hydrophilic properties were compared. In our experiment, the highest WCA was found in the parts measured immediately after anodization in the first group. Titanium surfaces coated with NaCl showed 14% lower WCA after anodization compared to untreated titanium after 15 days. In the 30-day groups, 20% lower WCA was found in the titanium treated with NaCl compared to the untreated ones. NaCl treatment on the hydrophilic surface of titanium helped to preserve its hydrophilic property over time. In this study, it was observed that the hydrophilic properties on the surface of the implants that were treated with NaCl for the first time on hydrophilic titanium were preserved for a longer period of time. We propose to increase the osseointegration quality by performing such applications on hydrophilic implants.