Exploring the Integration of Threaded Implants: the Chemical Deep Etching Approach

Abstract

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. While various techniques for analyses of the bone/implant interface are developed, most of them do not show the osseointegration process in details. In this article, we present a new inverted approach to explore the osseointegration of the dental implants, based on the chemical deep etching of titanium implants. An approach was tested on 18 implants inserted in 6 dogs. Bone/implant blocks were taken after 1, 3, and 6 months after implantation. The titanium was chemically removed from the interface, leaving the bone tissue intact. Once metal was removed, bone tissue was analyzed macroscopically and with a scanning electron microscope, afterwards decalcified and used for histological analysis. The clear patterns of implant integration into the bone tissue were obtained after 1, 3, and 6 months after implantation. After 1 month, the bone/implant interface was still very immature. After 3 months, the bone was already quite mature and organized. After 6 months, the external bone layer on the bone/implant interface appeared in its final osseointegrated form. The presented inverted method for the osseointegration analysis offers new insight into the healing process of the bone/implant interface after implantation, as well as integrative processes occurring around implants with different surfaces and designs.