A HISTOLOGIC COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LOADED AND UNLOADED TITANIUM IMPLANTS

LOADED IMPLANT와 UNLOADED IMPLANT의 조직학적 비교 연구

In order to see the possible effect of the functional load-bearing after osseointegration of the titanium root form implant in dog a histologic study was conducted. One side of lower jaw was surgically prepared edentulousness and titanium implants were inserted. Some implants were functionally loaded through fixed detachable prosthesis and some are isolated and unloaded. The dog was sacrificed four months later and bone sections with implants were processed for histologic evaluation and the results were as follows ; (1) The bone to implant interface after four months of load bearing presented no mobility and no marginal bone loss radiographically and histologically. (2) The interface zone between compact bone and implant revealed a direct bone to implant contact and in some areas marrow tissue contacts were examined at the light microscopic level. (3) At the ultrastructural level the interface of surrounding compact bone matrix and implant, three types of superficial layers were found ; one with moderate electron dense amorphous granular substance layer, other with high electron dense fine granular substance layer, and another type of amorphous granular substance covered with high electron dense line of minute granules. (4) The osteoblasts in the marrow tissue neighboring implants and osteocytes in compact bone showed typical normal characteristics and in the marrow tissues some of lymphocytes and mast cells were observed. (5) The abscence of abnormal tissue reactions at a cellular level indicates a high degree of biocompatibility for the experimental titanium implant and basically no difference was found between functionally loaded and unloaded implants.