Mineralization of titanium surfaces: biomimetic implants

Abstract

The surface modification by the formation of apatitic compounds, such as hydroxyapatite, improves biological fixation implants at an early stage after implantation. The structure, which is identical to mineral content of human bone, has the potential to be osteoinductive and/or osteoconductive materials. These calcium phosphates provoke the action of the cell signals that interact with the surface after implantation in order to quickly regenerate bone in contact with dental implants with mineral coating. A new generation of calcium phosphate coatings applied on the titanium surfaces of dental implants using laser, plasma-sprayed, laser-ablation, or electrochemical deposition processes produces that response. However, these modifications produce failures and bad responses in long-term behavior. Calcium phosphates films result in heterogeneous degradation due to the lack of crystallinity of the phosphates with a fast dissolution; conversely, the film presents cracks, which produce fractures in the coating. New thermochemical treatments have been developed to obtain biomimetic surfaces with calcium phosphate compounds that overcome the aforementioned problems. Among them, the chemical modification using biomineralization treatments has been extended to other materials, including composites, bioceramics, biopolymers, peptides, organic molecules, and other metallic materials, showing the potential for growing a calcium phosphate layer under biomimetic conditions.