title: Mechanical attachment of soft tissue to dental and maxillofacial implants with mesh structures: an experiment in percutaneous model.
abstract: Soft tissue attachment is a major concern for the improved design of dental and maxillofacial implants. This study evaluated the efficacy of mesh structures for soft tissue attachment in a rat percutaneous model. Four kinds of implant specimens were prepared - TI implants made of titanium cylinders, HA implants of hydroxyapatite-coated titanium, TI-Mesh implants with a titanium mesh covering a groove machined around a titanium cylinder, and similar HA-Mesh implants with a hydroxyapatite-coated mesh. These specimens were implanted percutaneously into the skin tissue of rats. The detachments of the implants were examined during the experimental period of 4 weeks. Survived implants were subjected to mechanical tests for the attachment strength and histological examinations. TI and HA implants demonstrated 0% of survival rates, while TI-Mesh and HA-Mesh showed significantly higher rates of 93.3% and 100% respectively. The attachment strengths were 159 ± 47 kPa in the TI-Mesh and 135 ± 16 kPa in the HA-Mesh. Histological observations revealed that collagen fibers originating from surrounding subcutaneous tissues were anchored to the mesh structures of the TI- and HA-Mesh implants. The results demonstrated the efficacy of the mesh structures for the attachment of soft connective tissues to implants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, School of Medicine, Keio University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asoda
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arita
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takakuda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015921:Dental Implants; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing; D008447:Maxillofacial Prosthesis; D011312:Pressure; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants; D017886:Durapatite; D014025:Titanium