Current Trends in Surface Modification for Dental Implants

Titanium and its alloys are amongst the most effective and commonly used biomaterials for the production of dental implants. But, in order to ensure long term success of these implants, surface modification techniques that improve osseointegration and prevent bacterial colonization are highly required. Until now, a variety of surface modification methods were proposed, the most basic ones involving mechanical or chemical processing to increase the roughness coefficient thus favoring osseointegration. However, this is not enough to prevent the common implant-related complications such as peri-implantitis. Therefore, an increased research interest was directed towards the development of functional coatings that can be tailored to both enhance osseointegration and prevent bacterial infections. This review aims to present the currently available titanium-based implants modification methods along with their main benefits and drawbacks. For a better understanding of the subject, the chemical structure and surface characteristics of titanium-based dental implants, and the main causes of implant failure were presented. Moreover, current trends such as nano-scale surface roughening and 3D printing of dental implants were also mentioned.