Corrosion behavior of dental implants immersed into human saliva: preliminary results of an in vitro study.

OBJECTIVE: Over the years, different implant surfaces have been used to try to maximize bone to implant contact. The aim of this study was to compare levels of metallic ions and particles dissolution collected from two different dental implants surfaces immersed into human saliva. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 60 dental implants were tested. Group A: sanded with aluminium oxide medium grade particles and acid-etched; Group B: micro-sanded with calcium phosphate powders and acid-etched. Forty implants were immersed in 20 ml of human saliva, twenty, as a control, in sterile saline solution. ICP-MS was performed to detect any metallic ions released from dental implants at T0, on day 1 (T1), on day 3 (T2), after one week (T3), on day 14 (T4), after 3 months (T5) and after 6 months (T6). RESULTS: Dissolution of metallic particles of titanium and nickel, absent in human saliva (T0), were found after one week (T3) for Group B and after 3 months (T5) for Group A. Vanadium was already detected in small concentrations in either group after 1 day, with an exponential growth for Group B. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results reported significant values of Ti, Ni and V released by Group B, showing for the first time statistically significant values of vanadium.