Development of osteoinductive Si-based coatings to improve dental implants' performance

290 p.

Since Professor Brånemark introduced the new concept of osseointegration and the proposal of titanium as the best choice for implants production, many efforts have been done to modify their surface in order to improve the direct bone-implant contact and in this way accelerate osseointegration process.The aim of this thesis work is on the one hand to accelerate the osseointegration process to avoid the appearance of possible problems during the first stages after implantation, and on the other hand, to promote the osteoinductive ability of implants making them widespread and accessible for every type of patients, moreover under unfavourable conditions. With this purpose, bioactive and osteoinductive coatings based on silicon precursors and obtained through the sol-gel process have been developed.