Abstract
The load transfer from metallic prosthesis to tissue plays an important role in the success of a designed device. From a mechanical behavior point of view, the load transfer will be favored when the elastic modulus between the metallic implant and the bone tissue are similar. Titanium and Ti-6Al-4V are the most commonly used metals and alloys in the field of dental implants, although they present high elastic moduli and hence trigger bone resorption. We propose the use of low-modulus β-type titanium alloys that can improve the growth of new bone surrounding the implant. We designed dental implants with identical morphology and micro-roughness composed of: Ti-15Zr, Ti-19.1Nb-8.8Zr, Ti-41.2Nb-6.1Zr, and Ti-25Hf-25Ta. The commercially pure Ti cp and Ti-6Al-4V were used as control samples. The alloys were initially mechanically characterized with a tensile test using a universal testing machine. The results showed the lowest elastic modulus for the Ti-25Hf-25Ta alloy. We implanted a total of six implants in the mandible (3) and maxilla (3) for each titanium alloy in six minipigs and evaluated their bone index contact (i.e., the percentage of new bone in contact with the metal—BIC%) after 3 and 6 weeks of implantation. The results showed higher BIC% for the dental implants with lowest elastic modulus, showing the importance of decreasing the elastic modulus of alloys for the successful osseointegration of dental implants.
Highlights
A major concern of metallic prosthesis implanted in the body is the stress-shielding effect, which is due to the significant differences between the Young’s or elastic modulus of bone tissue and those of the metallic prosthesis
The objective of the present work was to validate the properties of the novel low elastic modulus alloys in terms of their mechanical behavior and their in vivo osseointegration
Cortical bone has an elastic modulus of 20 GPa, whereas the most common commercial alloys have an elastic modulus ranging from 110 GPa for Ti6Al4V to 220
Summary
A major concern of metallic prosthesis implanted in the body (e.g., dental implants) is the stress-shielding effect, which is due to the significant differences between the Young’s or elastic modulus of bone tissue and those of the metallic prosthesis. In order to overcome this issue, new β titanium alloys that present similar mechanical properties to those of bone are currently being developed [3]. Ti–Nb and the related Ti–Nb–X system (where X = Zr, Ta, Au, O) These alloys have yielded high superelastic strains (i.e., as high as 4.2%), while avoiding biocompatibility issues [6–8]. We developed the TiNbHf ternary alloy presenting very interesting properties with low elastic modulus [9–12], ideal for fabricating orthopedic implants. While we have previously described the fabrication of several alloys with lower elastic modulus, an in vivo experimental design still needs to be performed to prove their use as load-bearing implants. The objective of the present work was to validate the properties of the novel low elastic modulus alloys in terms of their mechanical behavior and their in vivo osseointegration
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