An Improved Mechanical Testing Method to Assess Bone-implant Anchorage

Summary

An improved method to mechanically test bone anchorage to candidate implant surfaces is presented. This method allows for alignment of the disruption force exactly perpendicular, or parallel, to the plane of the implant surface, and provides an accurate means to direct the disruption forces to an exact peri-implant region.

Abstract

Recent advances in material science have led to a substantial increase in the topographical complexity of implant surfaces, both on a micro- and a nano-scale. As such, traditional methods of describing implant surfaces - namely numerical determinants of surface roughness - are inadequate for predicting in vivo performance. Biomechanical testing provides an accurate and comparative platform to analyze the performance of biomaterial surfaces. An improved mechanical testing method to test the anchorage of bone to candidate implant surfaces is presented. The method is applicable to both early and later stages of healing and can be employed for any range of chemically or mechanically modified surfaces - but not smooth surfaces. Custom rectangular implants are placed bilaterally in the distal femora of male Wistar rats and collected with the surrounding bone. Test specimens are prepared and potted using a novel breakaway mold and the disruption test is conducted using a mechanical testing machine. This method allows for alignment of the disruption force exactly perpendicular, or parallel, to the plane of the implant surface, and provides an accurate and reproducible means for isolating an exact peri-implant region for testing.

Introduction

Assessing anchorage of bone to endosseous implant surfaces has been the focus of considerable attention, for which many mechanical testing methods have been described^1,2. All such methods impose a force to disrupt the bone/implant model being employed, and can be broadly grouped into shear, generally presented as push-out or pull-out models^3,4, reverse torque^3,5, and tensile types^6,7. Commonly in such tests, either bone⁸ or implant material (in the case of brittle glasses and ceramics^9,10) is fractured and, assuming some form of anchorage has occurred, the bone/implant interface remains (at least partia....

Protocol

1. Implant Design, Fabrication, and Surface Treatment

1. Manufacture rectangular implants (dimensions 4 mm x 2.5 mm x 1.3 mm; length x width x height) from commercially pure titanium (cpTi). Drill a hole centrally down the long axis of the implant (diameter = 0.7 mm) to facilitate early implant stability within the surgical site and subsequent mechanical testing (Figure 1).
2. Treat the upper and lower surfaces of the implant.
   1. To create two distinct surfaces, use a standard grit-blasting (GB) treatment to create a microtopographically complex surface. Further modify half of the implants by superimposing calcium phosphate (C....

Results

All animals increased their ambulatory activity with time following their recovery from surgery. This is important because load has differential effects on topographies of different scale ranges, as we have recently reported¹². A representative force/displacement curve for test specimens following mechanical testing is presented in Figure 9A, and the averaged data for each implant surface is presented in Figure 9B. The maximum force value achieved by each specimen was recorded.......

Discussion

The mechanical testing model presented here provides an improved method to assess the anchorage of bone to candidate implant surfaces, since it allows for accurate perpendicular, or parallel, alignment of the test sample with the axis of disruption force applied; and limits the fracture zone to within half a millimeter of the implant surface. The model is easily incorporated into studies comparing the effectiveness of any range of chemically, or mechanically, modified surfaces; but is not suitable for smooth surfaces as .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Dulbecco’s Phosphate Buffer solution (DPBS)	Gibco Life Technologies, Burlington, ON, Canada	14190-250
10% neutral buffered formalin solution	Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Canada	HT501128-4L
Custom-designed rectangular implants (commercially pure titanium; dimensions: 4mm x 2.5mm x 1.3mm with a 0.7mm hole drilled centrally down the long axis)	Biomet 3i, FL, USA	N/A
Custom-designed breakaway mould	Biomet 3i, FL, USA	N/A
Isoflurane	Baxter Internationl Inc.	N/A
Buprenorphine	Bedford Laboratories	N/A
10% betadine	Bruce Medical, MA, US	FR-2200-90
Scalpel	Almedic, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	2586-M36-0100
Scalpel blade #15 (sterile)	Magna, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	2586
Periosteal elevator #24G	Spectrum Surgical, OH, USA	EX7
Forceps	Almedic, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	7747-A10-108
Tissue forceps	Almedic, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	7722-A10-308
Scissors	Almedic, Medstore, University of Toronto	7603-A8-240
Absorbant Fabric General Purpose Drape (sterile)	Vitality Medical	1089
Gauze (non-sterile)	VWR	89133-260
Needles 25G X 5/8" (disposable)	BD, Canada	305122
Syringes (sterile)	VWR, Canada	CABD309653
Needle Driver	Almedic, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	A17-132
Dynarex Surgical gloves (sterile)	Amazon.com	2475
Surgical masks	Fisherbrand, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	296360759
0.9% sterile saline	House brand, Medstore, University of Toronto, Canada	1011-L8001
Hair clippers	Remington, US	N/A
4-0 Polysorb	Syneture	SL5627G
9mm Wound Clips	Becton Dickinson, MD, USA	427631
ImplantMED DU 900 and WS-75 dental hand piece	W&H Dentalwerk, Austria	DU1000US
1.3 mm twist drill	Brasseler, GA, USA	203.21.013
1.3 mm dental burr	Biomet 3i, FL, USA	custom
1.2 mm cylindrical side-cutting burr	Biomet 3i, FL, USA	custom
Cylindrical diamond burr	Brasseler, GA, USA	H1.21.014
High speed dental drilling system	Handpiece: KaVo Dental Corporation, IL, USA	N/A
Handpiece Control: DCI International, OR, USA
99.5% Ultra Pure sucrose	BioShop Canada Inc., Burlington, ON, Canada	57-50-1
Flowable dental composite	Filtek Supreme Ultra Flowable Restorative, 3M ESPE, St Paul, Minnesota, USA	6033XW
Sapphire Plasma Arc high intensity curing light	Den-Mat Holdings, Santa Maria, CA, USA	N/A
Instron 4301 with 1000 N load cell	Instron, Norwood, MA, USA	N/A
Leica Wild M3Z Stereozoom dissecting microscope	Leica, Heerbrugg, Switzerland	N/A
QImaging Micropublisher 5.0 RTV digital camera coupled with QCapture 2.90.1 acquisition software	QImaging, Surrey, BC, Canada	N/A
Electronic digital caliper	Fred V. Fowler Company, Inc., Newton, MA, USA	N/A
Mechanical testing instrument	Instron, Norwood, MA, USA	N/A