Effect of fluoride-containing gel on the roughness of a titanium surface and the promotion of bacterial growth

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether fluorides at various pH cause changes in the surface roughness of titanium implants that alter the adherence of bacterial biofilms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The titanium disks were assigned randomly to the following seven groups according to the fluoride agents and application time (1 minute or 30 minute) used control (no treatment); group 1 (1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride [APF] at pH 3.5 for 1 minute); group 2 (1.23% APF at pH 3.5 for 30 minute); group 3 (1.23% APF at pH 4.0 for 1 minute); group 4 (1.23% APF at pH 4.0 for 30 minute); group 5 (2% NaF gel at pH 7.0 for 1 minute); group 6 (2% NaF gel at pH 7.0 for 30 minute). The surface roughness of the titanium disks and the amount of adherent bacteria were measured. RESULTS: Group 2 showed a significantly greater surface roughness than the control group (P < 0.0001). No significant differences in the amount of surface bacteria were observed between the treated samples and the controls. In addition, there were no significant differences in bacterial adherence relative to the incubation period between the treated samples and the controls. CONCLUSION: The surface roughness of the titanium disks was significantly greater after treatment with APF at pH 3.5 for 30 min compared with that of the controls. In addition, we found that the amount of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Aggregatibactor actinomycetemcomitans was similar among all groups.