IMPLANT-TISSUE INTERFACES FOLLOWING TREATMENT OF PERI-IMPLANTITIS USING GUIDED TISSUE REGENERATION - A LIGHT AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC STUDY

This study details the structural and ultrastructural features of the interfaces between titanium implants and their surrounding tissues. The material stemmed from an experiment in dogs in which guided tissue regeneration with Gore-Tex(R) membranes was used to treat peri-implant, ligature-induced tissue breakdown around submerged and nonsubmerged commercially pure titanium implants. Specimens from the nonsubmerged group were evaluated under light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. A healthy gingiva and a gingival sulcus were formed around the implant necks. A regenerated junctional epithelium provided the epithelial union between implant and gingiva. The supracrestal connective tissue was characterized by a 3-dimensional network of collagen fibers, fibroblasts and blood vessels. Near the implant surface the collagen fibers ran parallel to the titanium surface or were orientated perpendicular to the implant. The connective tissue-implant interface was characterized by a fine fibrillar material interposed between the implant surface and the connective tissue. An unidentified material was also observed between the endings of functionally orientated collagen fibrils and the metallic surface. The apical portions of the implants were anchored in compact bone. At the bone-implant interface, either mineralized bone matrix was intimately adapted to the titanium surface without any intervening space or a 0.5-mum wide unmineralized layer was interposed. These findings indicate that a perimucosal seal was formed around the implants consisting of a junctional epithelium-implant union coronally and supported by the connective tissue-implant junction apically. The implants were integrated in connective tissue, but only tightly adapted to bone.