Orlando Auciello1,2,3,Gilberto López-Chávez4,Daniel Olmedo5,6,Deborah Tasat7,6
The University of Texas at Dallas1,Original Biomedical Implants, LLC2,Original Bomedical Implants-México3,Ingenieria Humana Avanzada4,University of Buenos Aires5,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas6,National University of San Martin7
Orlando Auciello1,2,3,Gilberto López-Chávez4,Daniel Olmedo5,6,Deborah Tasat7,6
The University of Texas at Dallas1,Original Biomedical Implants, LLC2,Original Bomedical Implants-México3,Ingenieria Humana Avanzada4,University of Buenos Aires5,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas6,National University of San Martin7
Titanium alloys are widely used in commercial dental implants (DI). However, Ti-alloys can suffer electrochemical corrosion from oral fluids, releasing TiO<sub>2</sub> particles from the oxidized Ti surface, as confirmed by published articles by our and other groups worldwide, causing tissue inflammation and implant failure in undesirable short time, requiring implant change (~ 15% of DI, inserted in humans in the world, fail in the first 4-5 years), resulting in patients’ health discomfort and extra cost.<br/>A novel ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD<sup>TM</sup>) coating developed and patented by Auciello and colleagues exhibit outstanding mechanical / biocompatible properties and strong resistance to chemical attack by body fluids, as previously shown for UNCD<sup>TM</sup>-coated Si microchip implanted in human eye to restore partial vison to people blinded by genetically-induced retina’s photoreceptors degeneration. This presentation describes R&D performed to develop the technology to produce UNCD<sup>TM</sup>-coated commercial Ti alloys-based DIs, using an industrial MPCVD system enabling coating of 100s DI in a single low-cost fabrication process. UNCD coatings are produced by flowing Ar/CH<sub>4</sub> gas mixture in air evacuated chamber, creating a plasma producing UNCD<sup>TM</sup> film growth. Several dental implants (DI) were coated, on a holder capable to hold up to 300 DIs (~ 8 mm log, 2-3 mm diameter) vertically distributed in circular patterns. A uniform plasma was produced around all implants, coating them in a single process, with extremely uniform UNCD films (~ 0.2 - 0.3 µm thick), as shown by Raman, SEM and HRTEM analysis. Chemical analysis showed that UNCD<sup>TM</sup>-coated DI are not corroded, as Ti-DI are. Histological studies of UNCD-coated Ti-alloy DI, tested/analyzed/ assessed in an <i>in vivo</i> animal model, performed in a collaboration between UTD and Drs. Olmedo and Tasat in Argentina, showed outstanding biocompatibility of UNCD coating and superior osseointegration of the UNCD-coated Ti-alloy DI, in the animal bone, due to superior high density growth of bonce cells on the surface of UNCD coating, and total corrosion resistance, in contrast to current commercial Ti-alloy based dental implants, which are corroded and induce lower density of bone cells growth. In addition, UNCD-coated Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloys exposed to artificial saliva (pH 6.5) showed no corrosion. UNCD-coated commercial Ti-6Al-4V DI have been implanted in 20 humans, in clinical trials since 2018, conducted by Dr. Giberto López-Chávez, in the world class Institute Bioingeniería Humana Avanzada in Querétaro-México. Extensive X-ray and biological performance studies have shown that UNCD coated DI provide the new revolutionary DI technology, which is planned for insertion into the world market by 2022-2023.