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The purpose of this study was to determine if calcium hydroxide, mineral trioxide aggregate, or sodium hypochlorite caused a change in the force required to fracture root dentin. Ten bovine central and lateral incisors were machined using various saws and drills to produce a cylinder of dentin with a 6.0-mm outer diameter 3.5-mm inner diameter and a length of 10 mm. The cylinders were cut lengthwise into four symmetrical pieces. The canal sides of the sections were then placed into Petri dishes containing a 1-mm depth of calcium hydroxide, mineral trioxide aggregate, sodium hypochlorite, or physiologic saline (control). The samples remained in the dishes for 5 weeks and were then shear tested by using an Instron machine. Data were analyzed using an ANOVA test for comparison of the groups as a whole, and a t test was used to compare each quarter section with its control from the same tooth. A 32% mean decrease in strength was discovered for calcium hydroxide, a 33% decrease in strength for mineral trioxide aggregate, and a 59% decrease for sodium hypochlorite. All decreases in strength were statistically significant: p < 0.001 for calcium hydroxide, p = 0.027 for mineral trioxide aggregate, and p < 0.001 for sodium hypochlorite. Results indicated that root dentin was weakened after 5 weeks of exposure to calcium hydroxide, mineral trioxide aggregate, or sodium hypochlorite.

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Four coating techniques were evaluated to determine which is most suitable for producing a dense, highly adherent coating onto metallic and ceramic implant materials. Two of the selected coating methods have serious limitations for use in this particular application, and did not meet the specified criteria for satisfactory coating as defined in the initial stages of the study. For example, the dip coating-sintering technique was judged to be unsatisfactory because of the adverse effect of the high-temperature sintering cycle on the mechanical properties of the metallic substrate materials. These materials could not be used in load-bearing applications because of the excessive grain growth and loss of the wrought structure of both the commercially pure Ti and Ti-6Al-4V substrates, and the loss of ductility in the cast Co-Cr-Mo alloy. Another area of concern was that bond strength between the HA coating and the substrate was not high enough to insure that interfacial failure would not occur during the lifetime of the implant. The immersion-coating technique, in which the metal substrate is immersed into the molten ceramic, was shown in a previous study to be the best method of coating a bioreactive glass onto a Co-Cr-Mo implant. Heating HA above its melting temperature, however, caused undesired compositional and structural changes, and upon solidification very limited adherence between the modified ceramic and substrate material occurred under the conditions of this study. The HIP technique, in which the Ti powder substrate and the HA powder coating are sintered together in a high-pressure autoclave, shows great promise for the fabrication of high-quality composite implants. Initial studies have indicated that high-density Ti substrates with a small grain size that are well bonded to a dense HA coating can be produced under optimum conditions. Sintering and densification additives, such as SiO2 powder, do not appear to be necessary. The main drawback to this technique appears to be the reaction of the encapsulating material--whether soda glass, steel, or fused silica--to the HA coating. More extensive testing will necessary to determine the ideal conditions for the HIP technique, as efforts on this technique were discontinued in order to concentrate on the HIP technique, as efforts on this technique were discontinued in order to concentrate on the optimization of the sputter-coating technique so that coated implants for an animal study could be produced on schedule. Based on the results of this study, sputter coating appears to be the method of choice for forming a dense, adherent coating of HA onto a metal substrate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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Rat osteoblast cultures were maintained from 24 h to 6 weeks on hydroxyapatite (HA)- or titanium (Ti)-coated smooth and micromachined grooved substrata in medium supplemented with L-ascorbic acid-2-phosphate and beta-glycerophosphate to promote mineralization. The HA coatings, approximately 1 microm thick, were characterized using X-ray diffraction, surface roughness, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Osteoblasts elongated, aligned, and moved in the direction of the grooves on both Ti and HA grooved surfaces. HA surfaces produced significantly more bone-like nodules than Ti surfaces. All grooved substrata produced significantly more nodules than smooth surfaces. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that substrata can increase osteogenesis by formation of an appropriate microenvironment. There was also a statistically significant interaction between topography and chemistry in the formation of mineralized nodules. A strong correlation (r = 0.958) between alkaline phosphatase (Alk-P) at 2 weeks and nodule counts at 6 weeks was observed, suggesting that Alk-P may possibly be used as a leading indicator of osteogenesis on microfabricated surfaces. The results of this study indicate that surface topography and chemistry can affect osteogenesis, and that interactions between chemistry and topography can occur.