Various approaches are being pursued to physico-chemically modify the zirconia neck region of dental implants to improve the integration into the surrounding soft tissue. In this study, polished zirconia discs were laser microstructured with periodic cavities and convex waves. These zirconia samples were additionally activated by argon plasma using the kINPen®09. The surface topography was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and the surface wettability by water contact angle. The in vitro study with human gingival fibroblasts (HGF-1) was focused on cell spreading, morphology, and actin cytoskeleton organization within the first 24 h. The laser-induced microstructures were originally hydrophobic (e.g., 60 µm cavities 138.4°), but after argon plasma activation, the surfaces switched to the hydrophilic state (60 µm cavities 13.7°). HGF-1 cells adhered flatly on the polished zirconia. Spreading is hampered on cavity structures, and cells avoid the holes. However, cells on laser-induced waves spread well. Interestingly, argon plasma activation for only 1 min promoted adhesion and spreading of HGF-1 cells even after 2 h cultivation. The cells crawl and grow into the depth of the cavities. Thus, a combination of both laser microstructuring and argon plasma activation of zirconia seems to be optimal for a strong gingival cell attachment.

The work presents a calculative proof of strength for compensated and case hardened spur gears taking into account the different stress conditions in the tooth root and on the tooth flank. The basis of the proof of stregth is the local comparision of the occured stresses and the allowed stresses in the spur gear. The complex stress condition on the tooth flank is illustrated. On the flank occours a three dimensional stress condition with turnig principial stress systems. Furthermore the influences on this stress condition of residual stresses and of the contact of technical surfaces are discussed. Especially the described complex stress condition on the tooth flank asks for a calculation with an adequate criterion of failure. For this purpose a variant of the Schubspannungsintensitätshypothese (SIH) is proposed. The applicability of the proposed model is verified with numerous results of experiments. Some of the calculations are presented here. Altogether there is a good conformity between the test results and the calculated results especially for the ammount of the fatigue limit, the kind of damage (e.g. tooth root breackage, pitting, tooth breackage in the region of the flank) and the position of the beginning of the damage.

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