Surface roughness of dental implants and treatment time using six different implantoplasty procedures.

OBJECTIVES: To test whether or not one of six implantoplasty procedures is superior to the others rendering a minimal final implant surface roughness and a short treatment time. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-two one-piece implants were embedded in epoxy resin blocks with 6-mm rough implant surface exposed. The following implantoplasty polishing sequences were applied: Brownie((R)) , Greenie((R)) sequence (BG) (diamond rotary instruments 106-, 40-, 15-mum grit, Brownie((R)) , Greenie((R)) silicone polishers); Arkansas stone sequence (AS) (diamond 106-, 40-, 15-mum grit, Arkansas stone torpedo-shaped bur); Short diamond sequence (SD) (diamond 106-, 40-, 4-mum grit); Short diamond sequence with Greenie((R)) (SDG) (diamond 106-, 40-, 4-mum grit, Greenie((R)) ); Complete diamond sequence (CD) (diamond 106-, 40-, 15-, 8-, 4-mum grit); Complete diamond sequence with Greenie((R)) (CDG) (106-, 40-, 15-, 8-, 4-mum grit, Greenie((R)) ). The polished neck portion served as a positive control, the untreated sandblasted and acid-etched surface as negative control. Each implant was scanned with a contact profilometer rendering Ra values and Rz values as a measure of surface roughness. The time needed to polish the implant surface for each group was recorded. Simultaneous comparisons between more than two groups were done performing Kruskal-Wallis tests. Comparisons between two groups were analysed using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. RESULTS: Mean Ra values amounted to 0.32 +/- 0.14 mum (BG), 0.39 +/- 0.13 mum (AS), 0.59 +/- 0.19 mum (SDG), 0.71 +/- 0.22 mum (SD), 0.75 +/- 0.26 mum (CDG), 0.98 +/- 0.30 mum (CD), 0.10 +/- 0.01 mum (PC) and 1.94 +/- 0.47 mum (NC). Pairwise one-sided comparisons between the test group revealed statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). The shortest treatment time was recorded for group AS (13 +/- 2 min) and the longest for CDG (21 +/- 2 min) and BG (21 +/- 4 min). CONCLUSIONS: Considering final surface roughness and treatment duration, the use of rotary diamond burs in decreasing roughness, followed by an arkansas stone (group AS), appears to be an optimal treatment option.