Considerations Regarding Sandblasting of Ti and Ti6Al4V Used in Dental Implants and Abutments as a Preconditioning Stage for Restorative Dentistry Works

Sandblasting materials used for dental restoration are a valuable preconditioning technique that enhances the physical properties and promotes osseointegration and cell adhesion. Triplicate groups of Ti medical grade 4 and Ti6Al4V were blasted with 16 series of various naturally occurring and synthetically produced spraying materials of controlled granulometry at three spraying durations each and two spraying pressures, and the results were tested for the determination of the surface roughness taken as an average of 80 points ±5 points for each particular series of operating parameters. SEM analysis and specific tests to see whether or not cell cultures proliferate on the treated materials were also conducted. It was found that in all cases, regardless of the spraying material or working conditions, the roughness profile achieved is a uniformly distributed one. A reduction in the blasting pressure by half led to a decrease in the roughness between 30 and 35%. The use of glass balls as blasting material led to decreased roughness and more uniformly distributed roughness values for Ti as well as for Ti6Al4V, regardless of spraying duration or applied pressure compared to other spraying materials. Blasting with olivine led to increased, as well as uniformly distributed, values, and hence the conclusion that one may control the roughness size by choosing one or another of the above materials without the need to change any other operating parameters. In the case of Ti, the achieved roughness is greater than in the case of Ti4Al6V, regardless of the blasting material; the differences are smaller the softer the sandblasting material due to the fact that Ti alloys have better mechanical properties and increased hardness compared to pure Ti. SEM analysis showed that the use of sintered hydroxyapatite as an additive to the blasting material does not necessarily lead to a substantial deposition of hydroxyapatite on the substrate materials; only traces of it were identified during the analysis. As a general conclusion, this study showed that by sandblasting Ti and Ti6Al4V with different spraying materials, one may control the surface roughness, and this technique may be an attractive method for preconditioning these materials for restorative dentistry.