Surface modifications at the nanoscale for a better integration of titanium implants to the hard and soft tissues

Titanium and titanium alloys are widely used in dental and orthopaedic implants, because of their biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and mechanical performance. Tissue integration of Ti based materials can be increased by several modification at the nanoscale: we explored nanoparticles precipitation, nanostructuring of the surface and nanofiber deposition in this research. Nanoparticle precipitation can be useful in order to add antibacterial agents onto the titanium surface: silver nanoparticles were investigated in this research. Silver nanoparticles precipitation was obtained by different processes and antibacterial activity / ion release were monitored for different times[2]. Nano-structuring of the titanium surface can be useful in order to get bioactive behaviour and mineralization ability (apatite precipitation) of the surface, as well as better cell differentiation (osteoblasts). In this way, the integration of the implant to the hard tissue can be increased because of a faster growth of inorganic (apatite) and biological (osteoblasts) components of bone. Nanostructured titanium shows a peculiar topography and surface chemistry (e.g. zeta potential). In-vitro apatite precipitation and cell response were tested on smooth and nanostructured titanium surfaces[1]. Nanofiber deposition of biomolecules can be useful in order to enhance soft tissues adhesion (e.g. gum), to direct fibroblasts into a specific direction and to get a biomimetic material. Biological (bacterial and cell cultures) and chemical tests (FTIR, XPS, FESEM , EDS, zeta potential) of the modified surfaces through nanofiber deposition were performed. All the obtained results are discussed in order to get an overall understanding of the potential applications of titanium surfaces modified at the nanoscale in the dental and orthopaedic implants.