The University of the Basque Country, situated in Spain, has released research showing that around ten percent of dental implants result in failure and removal, due to development of bacteria and infection. In response to this a team from the university have been developing new implant coatings that are said to fight infection and facilitate more effective anchoring to the natural surrounding bone.
Beatriz Palla, one of the authors of the research paper, discussed the process with Newatlas.com, “We used silica as the precursor, because in many studies this compound has been shown to be osteoinductive, so it facilitates one of the objectives we wanted to achieve. What is more, to provide the materials with antibacterial characteristics, we added various antibacterial agents.” One of the coatings under development is said to be painted onto the titanium screw of the implant and fired under substantial heat to adhere it to the surface. Following this, antibacterial agents are added to allow the implant to fight infection when it is fitted.
Although the coatings are still in the prototype stage, the researchers are confident that these could be a viable solution towards decreasing the number of failed implants in the future. Ms Palla admits that there is still a lot of experimentation and development to do, but so far, the findings are very promising.