New Dental Implant with built-in Reservoir for drugs – Is it the end of Implant failures?

In modern Dentistry, Dental Implants have played a major role in helping Dentists and Dental patients replace missing teeth without any invasive procedures affecting the adjacent teeth. But the number of Implant failures has also been a major shortcoming with both the patients and Dentists thinking twice before going in for a Dental Implant to replace missing teeth. To reduce the risk of implant failure a multidisciplinary team of researchers at KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium) have developed a Denta lImplant which contains an empty space or what they call a reservoir which can store drugs helpful to prevent and even fight against infections.

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The KU Leuven researchers have also released an image which shows the implant with the reservoir having the drug which is said to be slowly infused out of the porous structure of the Implant which is made up of composite material having a mesoporous silica-containing macroporus titanium implant helps n constantly fighting and preventing infection of the dental implant.

Credit: © KU Leuven – Kaat De Cremer

Explaining about how the Dental Implant works, KU Leuven researchers, said, “Our implant has a built-in reservoir underneath the crown of the tooth,” explains lead author Kaat De Cremer. “A cover screw makes it easy to fill this reservoir with antimicrobial drugs. The implant is made of a porous composite material, so that the drugs gradually diffuse from the reservoir to the outside of the implant, which is in direct contact with the bone cells. As a result, the bacteria can no longer form a biofilm.”

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Formation of a biofilm which comprises of numerous micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungal pathogens etc have been the cause of failure of Dental implants, these pathogens form a biofilm on the surface of the dental implant which are resistant to antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics and lead to the failure of the dental implant. With the porous Dental Implant with a reservoir of antimicrobial agent in it can help in preventing such infection by actively releasing antimicrobial agent to the surface of the implant.

The KU Leuven researchers have subjected the implant to various tests using chlorhexidine as the drug inside the reservoir which is an antimicrobial agent used commonly in mouthwashes. This study has shown that the most common microbe in the mouth, Streptococcus mutans was unable to form biofilms on the outer surface of the implant with the chlorhexidine filled in the reservoir. It was also seen that biofilms which were formed prior to the use of the drug were also eliminated with the available drug.

Source, Journal Reference: Controlled release of chlorhexidine from a mesoporous silica-containing macroporous titanium dental implant prevents microbial biofils formation – European Cells and Materials.

Journal Reference: Controlled release of chlorhexidine from a mesoporous silica-containing macroporous titanium dental implant prevents microbial biofils formation – European Cells and Materials.