Article:

As dental implants become a routine part of dental practice, so too will the prevalence of peri-implant diseases. Inherent to the treatment of peri-implant disease is the removal of microbial biofilms from the implant surface. Currently, there is no standardized protocol for application of any treatment modality directed at implant surface decontamination. In this in vitro study, we report on the effectiveness of a super-pulsed CO2 laser, delivering an average fluence of 6.3 to 113 J/cm2, to remove biofilm from three different types of implant surface topographies. Biofilms ranged in thickness from 5 to 15 μm. An average fluence of 19 J/cm2 was sufficient to achieve 100% ablation of the biofilm on hydrophilic sandblasted and acidetched surface specimens (SA). However, to achieve 100% ablation of biofilm on HA and highly crystalline, phosphate enriched titanium oxide (PTO) surfaced implants required an average fluence of 38 J/cm2.