Early bacterial colonization and soft tissue health around zirconia and titanium abutments: an in vivo study in man

Aim: To compare the early bacterial colonization and soft tissue health of mucosa adjacent to zirconia (ZrO2) and titanium (Ti) abutment surfaces in vivo. Materials and methods: Twenty edentulous subjects received two endosseous mandibular implants. The implants were fitted with either a ZrO2 or a Ti abutment (non‐submerged implant placement, within‐subject comparison, left‐right randomization). Sulcular bacterial sampling and the assessment of probing pocket depth, recession and bleeding on probing were performed at 2 weeks and 3 months post‐surgery. Wilcoxon matched‐pairs, sign‐rank tests were applied to test differences in the counts of seven marker bacteria and the clinical parameters that were associated with the ZrO2 and Ti abutments, at the two observation time points. Results: ZrO2 and Ti abutments harboured similar counts of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Tannerella forsythia, Peptostreptococcus micros, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Treponema denticola at 2 weeks and 3 months. Healthy clinical conditions were seen around both ZrO2 and Ti abutments at all times, without significant differences in most clinical parameters of peri‐implant soft tissue health. Mean probing depths around Ti abutments were slightly deeper than around ZrO2 abutments after 3 months (2.2 SD 0.8 mm vs. 1.7 SD 0.7 mm, P=0.03). Conclusions: No difference in health of the soft tissues adjacent to ZrO2 and Ti abutment surfaces or in early bacterial colonization could be demonstrated, although somewhat shallower probing depths were observed around ZrO2 abutments after 3 month. To cite this article: van Brakel R, Cune MS, van Winkelhoff AJ, de Putter C, Verhoeven JW, van der Reijden W. Early bacterial colonization and soft tissue health around zirconia and titanium abutments: an in vivo study in man Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 22, 2011; 571–577 doi: 10.1111/j.1600‐0501.2010.02005.x