Comparison of antimicrobial effect of several decontaminating methods on contaminated Titanium discs

Decontaminating the implant surface, exposed to bacterial biofilm, is a concern in the treatment of peri-implant inflammatory disease. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of several methods on reduction of the bacterial load, colonized on the surfaces of titanium discs.

In this in vivo study, seven titanium discs with Sandblasted, Large-grit, acid-etched (SLA) surface were placed in the mouth of each of ten patients with chronic periodontitis by an intra-oral maxillary splint for 24 h. In each patient, the contaminated discs, except for the negative control ones, were randomly treated by one of the six antiseptic methods including sterile normal saline, plastic curette, air polisher, hydrogen peroxide, 980 nm diode laser, and Er-YAG laser. A spectrophotometer was used to measure Optical Density (OD) in case of aerobic microorganisms. Colony-Forming Units (CFUs) were used for anaerobic bacteria. Data were analyzed through Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney Tests at a significance level of α =0.05 by SPSS software.

Statistical analysis showed a significant decrease in OD of aerobic bacteria among the seven groups during a 0-24 h time interval (P < 0.001). Furthermore, these tests showed a significant difference in the CFU (P < 0.001) for anaerobic bacteria after 48 h.

The results of this study showed that all of the adopted methods significantly reduced microbial colonies on the surfaces of titanium discs with SLA surface. Er: YAG laser and normal saline had the highest and the lowest effects, respectively.