Abstract
The integrity of soft tissue seal is essential for preventing peri-implant infection, mainly induced by established bacterial biofilms around dental implants. Nowadays, graphene is well-known for its potential in biocompatibility and antisepsis. Herein, a new titanium biomaterial containing graphene (Ti-0.125G) was synthesized using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. After material characteristics detection, the subsequent responses of human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) and multiple oral pathogens (including Streptococci mutans, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Porphyromonas gingivalis) to the graphene-reinforced sample were assessed, respectively. Also, the dynamic change of the bacterial multispecies volume in biofilms was evaluated using absolute quantification PCR combined with Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Ti-0.125G, in addition to its particularly pronounced inhibitory effect on Porphyromonas gingivalis at 96 h, was broadly effective against multiple pathogens rather than just one strain. The reinforced material’s selective responses were also evaluated by a co-culture model involving HGFs and multiple strains. The results disclosed that the graphene-reinforced samples were highly effective in keeping a balance between the favorable fibroblast responses and the suppressive microbial growth, which could account for the optimal soft tissue seal in the oral cavity. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism regarding new material’s bactericidal property in the current study has been elucidated as the electron transfer, which disturbed the bacterial respiratory chain and resulted in a decrease of microbial viability. According to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database, the PICRUSt tool was conducted for the prediction of microbial metabolism functions. Consequently, it is inferred that Ti-0.125G has promising potentials for application in implant dentistry, especially in enhancing the integrity of soft tissue and improving its resistance against bacterial infections around oral implants.
Highlights
The integrity of the soft tissue seal is vital for the long-term success of dental implants, which can prevent bacterial invasion and protect the underneath osseointegration
In contrast to the random emission for the commercial pure titanium (Cp-Ti) group, the X-rays for the Ti-0.125G group were designedly emitted to the Gr-like aggregates, the surrounding areas and their boundary lines without overlapping (N = 10)
Depending on the 10-point energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) results, we indicated that the elemental concentrations of the groups were analyzed as O and Ti accounting for 4.76 ± 1.01 Wt.% and 95.67 ± 1.01 Wt.%, respectively, in Cp-Ti and C, O, and Ti accounting for 7.35 ± 7.13 Wt.%, 8.45 ± 6.00 Wt.%, and 84.20 ± 11.37 Wt.%, respectively, in Ti-0.125G (Figure 1C)
Summary
The integrity of the soft tissue seal is vital for the long-term success of dental implants, which can prevent bacterial invasion and protect the underneath osseointegration. Commercial pure titanium (Cp-Ti) has been commonly used as a transmucosal component of the implant for decades due to its superior biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and excellent mechanical properties (Yue et al, 2014). Biomaterial for Soft Tissue Seal solutions, such as Cp-Ti weakly performs in bactericidal effect and soft tissue integration. These limitations make transmucosal applications of implants susceptible to the colonization of oral pathogens, which contribute to the high risks of peri-implant infection and even lead to implant failure (Mellado-Valero et al, 2013). Gr is often introduced into titanium by coating techniques such as chemical vapor deposition. In order to tailor Cp-Ti with favorable bactericidal property and fast gingival attachment, a novel Gr-reinforced titanium (Ti-0.125G) was fabricated using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique in our study, which made Gr evenly dispersed in titanium with a tight bond
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