In-Situ Evaluation of Pro-Inflammatory Mediators Around Dental Implant Abutments

Objectives: To evaluate if a significant difference exists in the production of five pro-inflammatory cytokines in the peri-implant sulcus fluid (PISF) around abutments of titanium or zirconium oxide in patients for which the restorations have been functioning for at least 6 months.

Methods: Clinical and radiographic examinations were performed on 46 healthy subjects who had undergone previous implant therapy. The age range of the subjects was 23-77 years, 20 males, 26 females. PISF samples were obtained from one implant site per subject. Each implant site had four sites that were sampled and pooled into 0.01 M PBS, pH 7.2 containing protease inhibitors.  Five pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8) were examined using a commercial multiplexed fluorescent bead-based immunoassay (Millipore, Billerica, MA) in the Luminex 100 IS Instrument (Luminex, Austin, TX).

Results:

• None of the subjects sampled exhibited clinical or radiographic evidence of peri-implantitis. Bone levels were stable for all subjects from initial date of prosthesis delivery.
• There was no evidence of a group (titanium or zirconium oxide) difference for any of these five cytokines using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test (p>0.37 in all instances).
• There was no evidence of a gender difference for any of these five cytokines, based on a simple bivariate comparison of the males and females using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test (p>0.14 in all instances).
• There was no evidence of an increasing or decreasing relationship with age for any of these five cytokines, based on the Spearman rank procedure (p>0.44 in all instances).

Conclusions: The peri-implant inflammatory response to abutments of titanium or zirconium oxide based on five pro-inflammatory mediator profiles demonstrated no significant difference. No relationship was seen when age or sex was evaluated as a factor in inflammatory responses to these abutment materials. Clinicians can expect similar peri-implant sulcular inflammatory responses to abutments of titanium or zirconium oxide.