title: Wetting behavior of dental implants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hydrophilicity is gaining increasing interest as a factor that might influence the osseointegration of dental implants. Therefore, in this study the dynamic wetting behavior of currently marketed dental titanium implants was analyzed by tensiometry, and its relationship to surface topography was examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine screw-type implant systems from eight manufacturers were evaluated. Dynamic water contact angles were analyzed by tensiometric multiloop Wilhelmy experiments (10 loops, 10 mm/min immersion speed). The wetted length (perimeter) of the immersed samples was estimated by three-dimensional picture profile measurement of the thread height of the respective implant screws. Wettability was quantified by first advancing contact angles. Additionally, static contact angles were determined using the sessile drop technique. All implant surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Contact angle data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance followed by the Student t test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SEM revealed different types of surface morphology resulting from the different manufacturing processes. The first advancing mean contact angles of all implants ranged from 0 degrees (SLActive) to 138 degrees (OsseoSpeed), demonstrating statistically significant differences between implants. Because of kinetic hysteresis, initially hydrophobic implants became hydrophilic during following immersion loops.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tensiometric method was used to compare wettability of dental implants. A range from fully wettable/superhydrophilic to virtually unwettable/hydrophobic was observed on the implant surfaces examined.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Tuebingen, Department of Prosthodontics, Section Medical Materials and Technology, Germany. frank.rupp@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rupp
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scheideler
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eichler
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geis-Gerstorfer
mesh_terms: D003722:Dental Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D015921:Dental Implants; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013499:Surface Properties; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D003722:Dental Alloys; D015921:Dental Implants