|
Background: Surface treatment by argon plasma is widely used as the last step of the manufacturing process of titanium
implant fixtures before their sterilization by gamma rays. The possibility of using such a technology in the
daily clinical practice is particularly fascinating. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of the argon
plasma treatment on different titanium implant surfaces previously exposed in vitro to bacterial contamination.
Material and Methods: Sterile c.p. titanium implant discs with turned (T, Sa: 0.8μm), sandblasted/acid-etched
(SAE, Sa: 1.3μm) and titanium plasma sprayed (TPS, Sa: 3.0μm) surface were used in this study. A strain of Aggregatibacter
actinomycetemcomitans ATCC3718 was grown at 37°C under anaerobic conditions for 24 h and then
transferred on six discs for each of the three surface types. After 24 hours, a half of the contaminated discs (control
group) were directly used to evaluate the colony forming units (CFUs). The other half of the contaminated discs
(test group) were treated in an argon plasma chamber for 12 minutes at room temperature prior to be analyzed for
CFU counting. All assays were performed using triplicate samples of each material in 3 different experiments.
Results: When the CFU counting was carried out on control discs, a total of 1.50x106±1.4x105, 1.55x106±7.07x104
and 3.15x106±2.12x105 CFU was respectively assessed for T, SAE and TPS discs, without statistically significant
differences among the three surfaces. On the contrary, any trace of bacterial contamination was assessed for
titanium discs treated in the argon plasma chamber prior to be analyzed, irrespectively to the implant surface
tested.
Conclusions: Within the limit of this study, reported data suggested that the argon plasma technology could be
efficiently used to decontaminate/sterilize previously infected titanium implant surfaces.
|