Zirconia implant surfaces showed a statistically significant reduction in human plaque biofilm formation after 72 hours of incubation in an experimental anaerobic flow chamber model compared with titanium implant surfaces.

Viability and metabolic assays are commonly used as proxies to assess the overall metabolism of microorganisms. The variety of these assays combined with little information provided by some assay kits or online protocols often leads to mistakes or poor interpretation of the results. In addition, the use of some of these assays is restricted to simple systems (mostly pure cultures), and care must be taken in their application to environmental samples. In this review, the necessary data are compiled to understand the reactions or measurements performed in many of the assays commonly used in various aspects of microbiology. Also, their relationships to each other, as metabolism links many of these assays, resulting in correlations between measured values and parameters, are discussed. Finally, the limitations of these assays are discussed.

Surface hydrophilicity and roughness enhanced biofilm formation in vivo, whereas surface topography was the most influential factor that determined surface cleanability. While the grooved surface retained larger amounts of initial biofilm, the machined surface was easier to clean, but proliferation indicated by increased metabolic activity (growth rate) in IMC occurred despite mechanical biofilm removal.

The purpose of this study was to investigate a three-species in vitro biofilm with peri-implantitis-related bacteria for its variability and metabolic activity. Streptococcus sanguinis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Porphyromonas gingivalis were suspended in simulated body fluid containing 0.2% glucose to form biofilms on polished, protein-coated implant-grade titanium disks over 72 h using a flow chamber system. Thereafter, biofilm-coated disks were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence in situ hybridization/confocal laser scanning microscopy. To assess metabolic activity within the biofilms, their heat flow was recorded for 480 h at 37 °C by IMC. The microscopic methods revealed that the total number of bacteria in the biofilms varied slightly among specimens (2.59 × 10(4)  ± 0.67 × 10(4)  cells mm(-2) ), whereas all three species were found constantly with unchanged proportions (S. sanguinis 41.3 ± 4.8%, F. nucleatum 17.7 ± 2.1%, and P. gingivalis 41.0 ± 4.9%). IMC revealed minor differences in time-to-peak heat flow (20.6 ± 4.5 h), a trend consistent with the small variation in bacterial species proportions as shown by microscopy. Peak heat flow (35.8 ± 42.6 μW), mean heat flow (13.1 ± 22.0 μW), and total heat over 480 h (23.5 ± 37.2 J) showed very high variation. These IMC results may be attributed to differences in the initial cell counts and relative proportions of the three species, their distribution and embedment in exopolysaccharide matrix on the test specimens. The present results provide new insights into variability and dynamics of biofilms on titanium disks, aspects that should be explored in future studies of dental surfaces.

So-called secondary caries may develop in the cement gap between the tooth and the bonded restoration. Cement materials with a low susceptibility to biofilm formation are therefore desirable. In the present study, the adhesion of Strepococcus mutans onto three adhesive (Multilink Automix, RelyX Ultimate, and Panavia V5) and three self-adhesive (Multilink Speed Cem, RelyX Unicem 2 Automix, and Panavia SA plus) resin composite cements was evaluated. Previous studies have failed to evaluate concomitantly the effect of both the composition of the cements and their surface roughness on biofilm formation. The presence of S. mutans on cement surfaces with differing degrees of roughness was therefore recorded using fluorescence microscopy and crystal violet staining, and the composition of the cements was analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping. Biofilm formation on resin composite cements was found to be higher on rougher surfaces, implying that adequate polishing of the cement gap is essential. The use of copper-containing cements (Multilink Automix, Panavia V5, and Panavia SA plus) significantly reduced biofilm formation.