Organic surface film contamination of Vitallium implants

Conventional finishing and polishing techniques used to prepare Vitallium subperiosteal dental implant castings were found to produce low energy surfaces as measured by critical surface tension. Standard metallographic preparation gave slightly higher values. Glow discharge cleaning of both types of polished surface gave much higher critical surface tension values. This suggests the presence of an organic film after surface polishing of the implant which may later affect tissue reaction, in particular attachment, as has been noticed in related animal studies.