Abstract
Dental implant biomaterials are expected to be in contact with living tissues, therefore their toxicity and osseointegration ability must be carefully assessed. In the current study, the wettability, cytotoxicity, and genotoxicity of different alumina–zirconia–titania composites were evaluated. The surface wettability determines the biological event cascade in the bioceramic/human living tissues interface. The measured water contact angle indicated that the wettability strongly depends on the ceramic composition. Notwithstanding the contact angle variability, the ceramic surfaces are hydrophilic. The cytotoxicity of human gingival fibroblast cells with materials, evaluated by an (3-(4,5 methylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test, revealed an absence of any cytotoxic effect. A relationship was found between the cell viability and the wettability. It was subsequently deduced that the cell viability increases when the wettability increases. This effect is more pronounced when the titania content is higher. Finally, a comet test was applied as complementary biocompatibility test to detect any changes in fibroblast cell DNA. The results showed that the DNA damage is intimately related to the TiO2 content. Genotoxicity was mainly attributed to ceramic composites containing 10 wt.% TiO2. Our research revealed that the newly developed high performance alumina–zirconia–titania ceramic composites contain less than 10 wt.% TiO2, and display promising surface properties, making them suitable for dental implantology applications.
Highlights
One of the most important challenges in the dental implantology is the substitution of metal alloys with more biocompatible materials such as ceramic to overcome the biocompatibility issues [1,2,3,4]
Zirconia (ZrO2 ) ceramics were introduced in implantology due to their resistance to fracture, their toughness, and their excellent biocompatibility [7]
Low surface energy leads to low interaction with the water molecule, leading to a spherical drop and high contact angle [23]
Summary
One of the most important challenges in the dental implantology is the substitution of metal alloys with more biocompatible materials such as ceramic to overcome the biocompatibility issues [1,2,3,4]. Dental ceramics have attracted researchers’ attention thanks to their good chemical resistance, excellent mechanical and physical properties, and especially their high biocompatibility. These performances can reduce the negative biological reactions to the implants such as the aseptic loosening and the osteolysis [5]. The high rate of fractures in various alumina-based implants was reported on by clinical evaluations [6]. Zirconia (ZrO2 ) ceramics were introduced in implantology due to their resistance to fracture, their toughness (which is higher than the alumina), and their excellent biocompatibility [7]. Zirconia bioceramics have a low resistance to ageing due to their transformation from the tetragonal phase (t) to the monoclinic phase (m) in the human body
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