Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 8, 2025
Biological Compatibility Profile on Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration
Published on: November 16, 2018
Is It Safe to Reuse Healing Abutments? An Experimental Study on IL-1β and TNF-α Cytokine Levels in Peri-Implant
Nazila Lashkarizadeh1, Mehrnaz Foroudisefat1, Sina Abyari1
1Oral and Dental Diseases Research Center and Department of Periodontics, Kerman Dental School, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Purpose:
To compare pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in the peri-implant crevicular fluid (PICF) in unused and reused healing abutments.
Materials And Methods:
This study was a controlled randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Seventy-two patients who met the inclusion criteria were divided into two groups. After one-stage implant placement, in group A, an unused healing abutment, and in group B, a reused healing abutment, was connected to the implant fixture. After 2 months, clinical measurements for keratinized gingiva (KG), plaque index (PI), and bleeding index (BI) (Ainamo and Bay) were taken, and PICF sampling was performed to evaluate pro-inflammatory IL-1β and TNF-α cytokine levels using the ELISA test. Comparison of clinical measurements and cytokine levels between the two study groups was made using the Mann-Whitney test.
Result:
Clinical measurements and sampling were performed on 60 patients (nA = 27, nB = 33). There was no significant difference between the two groups in clinical measurements (BI (p = 0.96) and PI (p = 0.06)) or TNF-α (p = 0.63), and IL-1β (p = 0.26) cytokine levels.
Conclusion:
Reused healing abutments that are cleaned and sterilized properly do not appear to induce further peri-implant pro-inflammatory response; therefore, they can be utilized temporarily until implant abutment insertion.
