Abstract
In the past decades, titanium-based biomaterials have been broadly used in maxillofacial and periodontology surgery. The main aetiological agents related to complications in this procedures are Porphyromonas gingivalis, a Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria that is also responsible for the development of chronic gingivitis, and Streptococcus oralis, a Gram positive facultative anaerobic bacteria. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that the fluorine doping of titanium-based alloys reduces bacterial adherence.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the bacterial adherence on fluorine-doped titanium (TiF) probes compared to chemical polishing titanium (Ti) probes.
The P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 and S. oralis ATCC 9811 adherence study was performed by introducing each probe in a well of 6-well plate with 5 ml containing 106 colony forming units (CFU/ml) in sterile 0.9% NaCl and was incubated 37°C 5% CO2 for 90 minutes, in anaerobiosis in the case of P. gingivalis. After incubation, samples were stained with LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit. Proportion of live and dead bacteria was calculated and studied by using ImageJ software. The experiments were performed in triplicate.
The statistical data were analyzed by nonparametric Wilcoxon test with a level of statistical significance of 0.05. Our results showed a significant (p<0.0053) 14.41% decrease of the adherence of P. gingivalis on TiF and an increase of 30% of dead cells. For S. oralis we did not get significant results.
In conclusion, TiF can be considered a promising approach to prevent and treat infections related to maxillofacial and periodontology surgery.
