The Oral Environment Factors Affecting the Corrosion of Dental Implants

Abstract

One of the main challenges facing dental implant success is peri-implantitis, the inflammation of gingival tissues around a dental implant with progressive bone loss. Recent evidence indicates that titanium (Ti) corrosion products and undetected-residual cement are potential risk factors for peri-implantitis. The literature on the impact of various types of dental cement on Ti corrosion is very limited. Growing evidence indicates that titanium (Ti) corrosion products are one of the potential risk factors for peri-implantitis. The literature on the impact of various oral factors on Ti corrosion is minimal. Thus, this research project aimed to evaluate the effect of Ti products, inflammatory factors, types of dental cement, and the effect of challenged host cells on Ti corrosion processes. In the present project, the experiments involved subjecting Ti surfaces to different environments, including increased Ti ion and particle concentration in artificial saliva, adding inflammatory products to artificial saliva, and subjecting the Ti surface to three different dental cement types. The Ti surfaces were also subjected to a simulated environment, where gingival fibroblasts and macrophages were challenged with Ti ions and particles. The samples were subjected to corrosion sequence following the American Society for Materials and Testing guidelines 61 (ASTM). The corrosion sequence entailed electrochemical tests such as open circuit potential, potentiostatic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and cyclic polarization. The results revealed that the increased concentration of Ti ions in artificial saliva is directly proportional to the corrosion rate. The addition of inflammatory products to artificial saliva increased the corrosion kinetics. Certain types of dental cement increased corrosion rates. Finally, the challenged fibroblasts and macrophages led to increased corrosion rates and kinetics. Such severe environments that accelerate Ti corrosion may contribute to the pathogenesis of peri-implantitis.