An in-vitro study of the sterilization of titanium dental implants using low intensity UV-radiation

An in-vitro study of the sterilization of titanium dental implants using low intensity UV-radiation
Received 1 November 2004; accepted 20 January 2005. Available online 5 May 2005.
D. Jason Rileya, 1, Valter Bavastrelloa, Ugo Covanib, Antonio Baroneb and Claudio Nicolinia, b
Dental Materials
ScienceDirect
aFondazione Elba, Via delle Testuggini, Roma, Italy
bNanoworld Institute and Biophysics Division, Department of Biophysical M & O Sciences and Technologies, University of Genoa, Corso Europa 30, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Summary
Objectives
Commercial titanium dental implants are coated with nanostructured TiO2. The aim of the research reported in this paper was to assess whether the TiO2 at the surface of a dental implant is sufficiently photoactive to eradicate bacteria when illumined with low intensity light.
Methods
The photoactivity of dental implants was established by studies of the photoenhanced decomposition of Rhodamine B. In vitro studies to establish the influence of irradiating with UV light an implant that is immersed in a solution containing Escherichia Coli were performed.
Results
It was demonstrated that under low UV intensity irradiation, 49 ǖW cm-2, bacteria are killed at a rate of approximately 650 million per cm2 of implant per minute.
Significance
The results indicate that illumination of dental implants with UV light may be a suitable treatment for periimplantitis.
Keywords: Bacteria; Dental implant; Osseointegration; Titanium oxide; Sterilization
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