Histomorphometric Study of Ion Implantation and Diamond-like Carbon as Dental Implant Surface Treatments in Beagle Dogs

Purpose: Improvements in the bone-implant interface can provide clinical benefits, such as increasing the amount of bone in contact with the implant and shortening the time required to achieve sufficient bone appositioning to allow early prosthetic loading. The present study describes the results obtained with 2 new surface treatments: (a) CO ion implantation; and (b) diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating. Materials and Methods: Each group (ion implantation, DLC, and the control group, turned titanium) consisted of 12 samples. Beagle dogs subjected to previous partial edentulation were used. Dual histologic evaluation was made of percentage bone-implant contact (% BIC) of all samples based on conventional histomorphometric analysis and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). Results: The results obtained after 3 and 6 months of dental implant placement showed greater and faster bone integration in the CO ion implantation group (61% and 62% BIC, respectively) compared with the DLC group (47% and 50%); the data corresponding to the ion implanted samples were statistically significant compared with the control group (33% and 49% BIC after 3 and 6 months, respectively). Conclusions: The results showed improved % BIC for implants with ion-implanted surfaces in comparison to DLC coating and machined controls. Furthermore, bone integration appeared to be accelerated in the ion implantation group, since high % BIC values were recorded in the early stages after in vivo implantation. Keywords: bone integration, dental implants, diamond-like carbon, histomorphometry, ion implantation, osseointegration, periodontology, surface treatments