Enhanced osseointegration of drug eluting nanotubular dental implants: An in vitro and in vivo study

• Published in: Bioactive materials 2023-10, Vol.28, p.432-447
• Main Authors: Chauhan, Pankaj, Srivastava, Alok, Bhati, Pooja, Chaturvedi, Manish, Patil, Vinay, Kunnoth, Sriram, Kumari, Nisha, Arya, Vedpal, Pandya, Madhur, Agarwal, Mohit, Bhardwaj, Smiti, Faraz, Farrukh, Chauhan, Sanjay, Verma, Mahesh, Koul, Veena, Bhatnagar, Naresh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Histopathology; Micro CT; Nanoscale; Nanotube; Simvastatin; Titanium
• ISSN: 2452-199X; 2452-199X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.06.003

Faster and predictable osseointegration is crucial for the success of dental implants, especially in patients with compromised local or systemic conditions. Despite various surface modifications on the commercially available Titanium (Ti) dental implants, the bioactivity of Ti is still low. Thus, to achieve both biological and therapeutic activity on titanium surfaces, surface modification techniques such as titanium nanotubes have been studied as nanotube surfaces can hold therapeutic drugs and molecules. The main aim of the present research work is to study the early osseointegration around the novel Simvastatin drug eluting nanotubular dental implant. In the present research, the titanium nanotubes were fabricated on the screw-shaped dental implant surface and the Simvastatin drug was loaded into the nanotubes using the ultrasonication dip method. In vitro and In vivo studies were carried out on the modified dental implants. In vitro cell culture study reported enhanced osteogenic activity on the drug-loaded nanotube surface implants. The invivo animal studies were evaluated by micro-CT, histopathology, and reverse torque removal analysis methods. The test results showed faster osseointegration with the strong interface on the Simvastatin drug-loaded implant surface at 4 weeks of healing as compared to the control implants. [Display omitted] •Titanium nanotubes were successfully fabricated on the rough surface of dental implants.•Ti nanotube surface accelerates the osseointegration process.•High amount of Simvastatin drug was loaded inside nanotubes that further enhance osseointegration.•In vitro and In vivo studies showed that drug-eluting nanotubes dental implant could be a feasible solution for faster osseointegration.