Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilm formation in different titanium surfaces, an in vitro study

The aim of this work was to evaluate the biofilm formation of Porphyromonas gingivalis on disks of titanium (Ti) grade 4 (G4) and Ti-6Al-4V alloy grade 5 (G5) with different surface topographies.

Porphyromonas gingivalis ATCC 33277 was used to develop an in vitro mature biofilm on a total of 96 disk-shaped specimens of laser-treated (L), sandblasted (S), and machined (M) surfaces of Ti G4 and Ti G5. Surface roughness (Ra) and the wettability contact angle (WCA) were measured to characterize the surface of the specimens. The bacterial biofilm was evaluated by biomass quantification, bacterial viability, visualization of the biofilm extracellular matrix, and bacterial cell count. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Holm-Sidak tests and expressed as mean ± standard deviation.

The Ra for the L group was 0.10 (±0.07) μm inside the craters and 0.40 (±0.08) μm in the area surrounding the craters resulting the smoothest (P < 0.05) in respect to the S group (1.30 ± 0.61 μm) and the M group (0.75 ± 0.23 μm). The L group showed a higher WCA than S and M groups for both G4 (109.9° ± 6.6) and G5 (104.2° ± 5.9) materials (P < 0.05). The L group displayed both the less P. gingivalis bacterial biomass (0.38 ± 0.01 for G4; 0.62 ± 0.02 for G5) that was significant in respect to G4-S (P < 0.001), G4-M (P < 0.001), and G5-M (P = 0.001) and the less total cell number (215 ± 18 for G4 and 244 ± 9 for G5) than S and M groups for both G4 and G5 materials (P < 0.01).

Within the limits of the present study, the results showed that G4-L appears to be significantly efficient in the reduction of the P. gingivalis biofilm formation.