Abstract

MENDES, Vanessa Cristina  and  DAVIES, John E.. A new perspective in the biology of osseointegration. Rev. Assoc. Paul. Cir. Dent. [online]. 2016, vol.70, n.2, pp. 166-171. ISSN 0004-5276.

Osseointegration refers to the anchorage of an implant in bone, to a degree that can withstand functional loading. Osseointegration comprises several distinct biological mechanisms. An understanding these phenomena, and the role of implant surface topography in this process, will assist the clinician in two important ways: 1) It will inform their choice of the most appropriate implant designs for their patients, and 2) It will facilitate their recognition of problems that may arise after implant placement. We describe herein a new perspective on osseointegration. It is based on recent work that has demonstrated that peri-implant healing may be regarded as a restoration of bony homeostasis. Restoration of homeostasis is a universal phenomenon of which there are a multitude of examples in the natural and biological worlds. Applied to bone healing, the exponential rise in bone anchorage with time reaches the new equilibrium. This can be modeled using a simple equation where two important parameters emerge: 1) The ultimate value of implant/bone anchorage, which represents the new tissue equilibrium and 2) The rate at which this equilibrium is reached. Thus, experimentally, it is important to monitor healing over a relatively long time so that the new bony equilibrium, can be achieved. However, the rate at which homeostasis is reached, described by a single mathematical parameter "tau", emerges as a unique means by which the osseointegration performance of implants can be quantified and compared. This new perspective on osseointegration will be discussed in more details herein.

Keywords : eointegration; dental implants; dental implantation; endosseous; homeostasis..