Effect of electrophoretic apatite coating on osseointegration of titanium dental implants

This paper discusses the in vivo behavior of HA-coated titanium implants compared with non-coated implants. HA coating was produced by using electrophoresis. Coatings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the bone-implant contact length was used as the measure of osseointegration. Results show significantly higher percentage of bone-implant contact for hydroxyapatite coated than for non-coated condition. The obtained results allow us to conclude that coating by electrophoresis appears to be an attractive process to coat metallic implants with an osteoconductive material like hydroxyapatite, for small or medium scale production.