Biomaterials, Biomechanics, Tissue Healing, and Immediate-Function Dental Implants
Selected factors and opinions are reviewed specific to immediate function of dental implants in terms of biomaterial and biomechanical properties and how they might influence postsurgical tissue healing. Comparisons are made among plate, rod, and screw vs plateau, finn, and porous geometry endosteal dental-implant designs with and without alterations in device body-surface microchemistry and microtopography. Available information introduces more questions than answers, and recommendations are made for ongoing studies of bone responses specific to the implant fit and fill parameters focused on the kinetics of postsurgical osteotomy healing and applied loading. The clinical literature supports opportunities for immediate function; however, proposals about pathways for bone healing need further investigation. The current trends within the discipline of implant dentistry offer opportunities to reevaluate current vs previous immediate-function systems.Abstract
Schematics of biomaterial surface-tissue fluid interactions: prebone integration. (A) Altered nano- and microtopography. (B) Nonmetallic coatings
Schematic of biological events associated with bone healing expressed as a function of log times (in seconds). The kinetics of bone healing under normal conditions are shown
Contributor Notes
Jack E. Lemons, PhD, is with the Department of Prosthodontics and Biomaterials, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SDB Box 49, Birmingham, AL 35294-0007 (jack.lemons@ortho.uab.edu).