The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate, through the stability curve and the ISQ value, whether a superhydrophilic and bioactive implant surface may represent a key factor to improve and accelerate the osseointegration process and favor early loading protocols even when conditions are less favorable, such as in the case of bone type D3 or, particularly, D4.
The design of this study is similar to that of previous studies conducted over the last 15 years, which have compared various bioactive surfaces with traditional ones.
In fact, recent systematic reviews have shown no significant difference in terms of stability between implants with super-hydrophilic surfaces and implants with traditional surfaces [24, 25].
One possible reason for this absence of difference may be associated with the heterogeneity of the sample size, primarily comprising implants inserted in the posterior mandible. The anatomy of this region may indeed feature a substantial cortical bone area that is susceptible to alterations, potentially causing the implant stability curve to flatten and leading to a combined measure of primary and secondary stability.
To avoid this bias, the present study was carried out also considering the bone environment and the different responses of the host where the implant is inserted. This is the reason why only sites with poor densities (< 850 HU) were included. In fact, Chrcanovic and colleagues (2017) have highlighted that sites with poor bone quality and lack of bone volume can substantially influence implant failure rates [9].
On the other hand, in vitro studies have demonstrated that bioactive surfaces allow a significant quantitative and qualitative advantage in terms of cell adhesion and stratification [26]. However, this phenomenon seems to have a short effect due to the so-called “saturation effect”. Indeed, statistically significant differences exhibit a strong inverse correlation with cell concentration: the higher the concentration, the shorter the period of significant difference. Simultaneously, a direct correlation is observed between the surface area and the time required for the saturation effect.
In the present study, implants with a superhydrophilic and bioactive surface were placed in the TG patients. While the NINA group showed a constant increase in ISQ values at T30 e T45 (75.15 ± 7.39, 75.31 ± 6.49) compared to the baseline (74.72 ± 7.70), in the NEO group, a decrease in stability was noted at T30 (73.26 ± 6.04) and T45 (73.23 ± 7.85) compared to the baseline (77.11 ± 5.73). Implant stability was statistically significantly higher at T30 (p = 0.005) and T45 (p = 0.012) with the bioactive surfaces. These results appear to suggest that a more rapid transition from mechanical to biological stability, and therefore faster formation of woven bone, occurred in TG. The TG data are in contrast with other studies described in the literature. Khandelwal in the study comparing SLA with chemically modified SLA showed that ISQ levels decreased after implant placement and the minimum in implant stability was achieved at 3–4 weeks after placement in both treatment groups [25]. Barewal demonstrated that the most critical period for implant stability occurs around week 3 after implant placement for all bone types, especially bone type 4 [27]. Bornstein in contrast to Khhandewal showed that the stability of modSLA at 4 months was (77.91 ± 6.00), showing an increase in stability from baseline (74.33 ± 7.06) [28]. However, both studies lacked sub-analyses of implant site bone quality which could have influenced the stability values.
According to the ISQ trend, despite the critical bone quality, 26 TG and 23 CG implants were functionally restored according to the study protocol at day 45. 6 CG and 0 TG implants were functionally loaded after 180 days.
These results are in accordance with Bornstein et al. who showed a high success rate (96%) in the posterior mandible, loading bioactive implants after 21days. Despite similar results, the differences in loading time between the aforementioned and the present study might be related to bone quality.
These results could be explained by significant differences in wettability between the groups. Superhydrophilic surfaces with a contact angle (CA) of 0 degrees, are completely imbibed by blood and, as already demonstrated in previous in vitro animal and clinical studies, promote protein adsorption, cell adhesion, as well as proliferation and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells in osteoblasts, thus promoting bone healing already at the early stages after implant placement[29–32].
Despite a follow-up of only 6 months, all 60 implants were functionally loaded and adequately osseointegrated, with a survival and success rate of 100.0%, confirming the predictability of implant therapy.
In the present study, the use of computer-guided surgery has simplified the surgical procedure and eliminated surgical complications [33, 34]. In fact, none of the implant site preparations deviated substantially from the planning carried out with the software. The same software was used to calculate the bone density using the Hounsfield scale and providing information on the bone quality of the surgical site.
The MBL at 6 months was 0.20 (0.18, 0.44) mm and 0.00 (0.12, 0.48) mm respectively for TG and CG with no statistical significance (p = 0.21). The absence of statistically significant differences and a low MBL value can be attributed to the coronal macromorphology (presence of Cutting flutes on the coronal portion) of the two implants used. These cutting flutes are specifically designed for a drastic reduction of crestal stress. However, there is still little evidence of the influence of the implant surface on the MBL [35].
This data should be compared to 0.488 mm (95% CI 0.289–0.687), the MBL found in Sommer's systematic review for early loading in which the prosthetic restoration is placed more than 2 days but less than 90 days after implant placement. The authors estimate that maximum MBL occurs in the first six months following the insertion of the restoration and that tissue stabilization occurs thereafter. No statistically significant differences are expected between the MBL calculated at 6 and 12 months [36].
When interpreting the current findings, it's important to consider that the relatively short follow-up period constitutes a significant limitation of this study. Nevertheless, despite this limitation, the study's well-balanced sample size allows for valuable insights into the clinical significance of super-hydrophilic implants.
Based on these promising short-term results, it seems that titanium implants with a bioactive super-hydrophilic surface could serve as an potential treatment option for challenging bone sites, potentially enabling the reduction of loading protocols. Another challenge will be to conduct a more extensive assessment of the performance of this novel bioactive surface under conditions of both low bone quality and limited bone quantity.