Titanium release from implants prepared with different surface roughness

There may be a risk of greater ion release for surface-enlarged implants than conventionally turned components. The major aim of the present paper was to investigate whether a correlation exists between ion release and a surface roughness relevant for today's commercial implants. Other aims were to compare ion release after two insertion times and concentration in bone tissue as a function of distance from the implant surface.

Lactic acid aqueous solution (pH=2.3) and phosphate-buffered saline were used for the in vitro investigation. For the in vivo investigation, synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) were performed 12 weeks and 1 year after implantation in rabbit tibiae.

The average height deviation (S(a)) was 0.7, 1.27, 1.43 and 2.21 microm, respectively, for the four surfaces investigated. No difference in ion release was found in vitro. In vivo, SRXRF demonstrated slightly higher values for the roughest surface up to a distance of 400 microm from the implant surface; thereafter no difference was found. SIMS demonstrated no difference in ion release for the roughest and smoothest surfaces, but slightly more titanium in bone tissue after 1 year than after 12 weeks. Titanium rapidly decreased with distance from the implant surface.

At a level relevant for commercial oral implants, no correlation was found between increasing roughness and ion release, neither in vitro nor in vivo.