An In-Vivo Study on Nanostructured Ti Dental Implant Produced by Caliber Rolling and Surface Modification by SLActive

This work researches the synchronous effect of grain refinement, induced by cold caliber rolling (CCR), and surface modification by sandblasting and acid-etching (SLA/SLActive) on the mechanical, surface, biological properties, and osseointegration improvement of commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti grade 2) dental implants. First, high-strength nanostructured CP-Ti was produced by caliber rolling. Then, SLA and SLActive surface modification methods were applied on the surface of both the CP-Ti and the nanostructured one. Surface roughness tests presented the highest value of roughness for the SLActive surface. All the specimens were implanted into the femur of six healthy New Zealand rabbits, and their properties were studied for periods of 1 and 3 months. To investigate the osseointegration, micro-CT images were tracked. Both hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichrome (TRI) histopathology evaluations were conducted on all the implanted samples. Increases in bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), and bone volume fraction (BV/TV) were noted. H&E histopathology indicated an increase of osteogenesis for the SLA-nano implants. TRI histopathology showed an increase in collagen secretion and bone-to-implant contact (BIC) of the SLActive implants, which demonstrated their improved osseointegration. All these results proved the effectiveness of caliber rolling and SLActive methods on the osseointegration of titanium dental implants.