Peri-implantitis
remains the major impediment to the long-term
use of dental implants. With increasing concern over the growth in
antibiotic resistance, there is considerable interest in the preparation
of antimicrobial dental implant coatings that also induce osseointegration.
One such potential coating material is fluorapatite (FA). The aim
of this study was to relate the antibacterial effectiveness of FA
coatings against pathogens implicated in peri-implantitis to the physicochemical
properties of the coating. Ordered and disordered FA coatings were
produced on the under and upper surfaces of stainless steel (SS) discs,
respectively, using a hydrothermal method. Surface charge, surface
roughness, wettability, and fluoride release were measured for each
coating. Surface chemistry was assessed using X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy and FA crystallinity using X-ray diffraction. Antibacterial
activity against periodontopathogens was assessed in vitro using viable
counts, confocal microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
SEM showed that the hydrothermal method produced FA coatings that
were predominately aligned perpendicular to the SS substrate or disordered
FA coatings consisting of randomly aligned rodlike crystals. Both
FA coatings significantly reduced the growth of all examined bacterial
strains in comparison to the control. The FA coatings, especially
the disordered ones, presented significantly lower charge, greater
roughness, and higher area when compared to the control, enhancing
bacteria–material interactions and therefore bacterial deactivation
by fluoride ions. The ordered FA layer reduced not only bacterial
viability but adhesion too. The ordered FA crystals produced as a
potential novel implant coating showed significant antibacterial activity
against bacteria implicated in peri-implantitis, which could be explained
by a detailed understanding of their physicochemical properties.