TITANIUM AS A BIOMEDICAL MATERIAL FOR IMPLANTS

 TITANIUM AS A BIOMEDICAL MATERIAL                           FOR  IMPLANTS 

Abstract

Titanium are alloy are considered as the most promising and the most attractive material in the biomedical application. As titanium has been very long favored for the biomedical application. However, for permanent implant applications the alloy has a possible toxic effect resulting from released vanadium and aluminium. For this reason, vanadium- and aluminium free alloys have been introduced for implant applications.

Introduction

As material used in the wide range of the application and must be exhibit and the properties. The main important of the used in the part of materials used for fabricating implants is biocompatibility, followed by corrosion resistance. The main metallic biomaterials are stainless steels, cobalt alloy, and titanium and titanium alloys. Stainless steel was the first metallic biomaterial used successfully as an implant. In 1932, the cobalt-based alloy named Vitallium was developed for medical applications. Titanium is the newest metallic biomaterial. In both medical and dental fields, titanium and its alloys have demonstrated success as biomedical devices


                                                The titanium is used in the biomedical industry due to the excellent mechanical properties and the good biocompatibility as the titanium as some of the steel, its density is only half as the steel. The titanium is uses broadly use in the number of field, including aerospace, power generation,  automotive, dental and medical industries. The first metal alloy developed specifically for human use was the “vanadium steel” but it was no longer used in implants because its corrosion resistance is inadequate in vivo. Later in the 1950s, 18-8sMo with very low carbon content (known as 316L) stainless steel was introduced and is actually widely used for implant fabrication. This alloy has a very good resistance to chloride solutions and poor sensitoion. Since the 1960s, titanium has become a popular metallic biomaterial because of its properties for many biomechanical applications including dentistry. Although there is an increasing trend for metal-free restorations in the dental profession,failures in the form of fracture or chipping associated with such materials are still being reported indicating that there is still place for the indication of metal-ceramic fixed-dental-prosthesis. Furthermore, extensive oral rehabilitations could only be achieved with metal-ceramic FDPs since flexural strength of glassy matrix or oxide-based all-ceramic restorations do not allow for durable constructions of multiple-unit restorations. On the other hand, the use of titanium as an implant material has become an integral part of dental therapy


Material properties of Titanium

Titanium is often used either as the pure metal, or in an alloyed form in aerospace applications, and in medical and dental work. It is commonly alloyed with other metals such as Vanadium and Aluminum . It forms then light-weight but at the same time strong alloys for the fabrication of oral implants or the frameworks for FDPs.

                             According to the American Society of Testing Materials, cpTi is available in four different grades that is based on the incorporation of small amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, iron and carbon during purification procedures, where each grade has different physical and mechanical properties. Grades I and II are the most commonly used cpTi types for the production of metal-ceramic FDPs. In oral implants and implant-supported FDPs, cpTi and its alloys exhibit remarkable advantages due to their excellent biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, high strength, and low modulus of elasticity .Yet, the recent trends in making dental biomaterials more biomimetic from both biomechanical and biological perspectives, also applied for cpTi. Principally, the stress transfer between a metal framework and the dental tissues or bone is not homogeneous since stiffness of the metal framework or implants and such tissues are different. This phenomenon is described as “stress shielding”. In order to avoid devitalization of the tooth and atrophy in the bone under chewing function , high Young’s modulus of cpTi compared to those of the tooth and the bone structures, is not desirable. Young’s moduli of the most widely used SUS316L stainless steel and Co-Cr for orthopaedic implant devices, are approximately 180 GPa and 210 GPa, respectively whereas Young’s moduli of cpTi and its alloys are generally lower than those of stainless steels and Co-Cr alloys.

Titanium and biocompatibility

Because the focus of biomaterials has shifted more towards, tissue engineering, complex medical application and biotechnology, it has become necessary to better define and evaluate the specific interaction between biomaterials and tissues .Biocompatibility refer to the ability of the biomaterial to perform the desire function with the respect to medical therapy

Beside the artificial bones, joints replacement and the dental implants, titanium based alloy also used in the cardiovascular implants

 

Titanium medical specification

 

Bone and Joint Replacement

About one million patients worldwide are treated annually for total replacement of arthritic hips and knee joints. The prostheses come in many shapes and sizes. Hip joints normally have a metallic femoral stem and head which locates into an ultrahigh molecular weight low friction polyethylene socket, both secured in position with polymethyl methacrylate bone cement. Some designs, including cementless joints, use roughened bioactive surfaces (including hydroxyapatite) to stimulate osseointegration, limit resorption and thus increase the implant lifetime for younger recipients. Internal and external bone-fracture fixation provides a further major application for titanium as spinal fusion devices, pins, bone-plates, screws, intramedullary nails, and external fixators



Maxillofacial and Craniofacial Treatments

Surgery to repair facial damage using the patients own tissue cannot always obtain the desired results. Artificial parts may be required to restore the ability to speak or eat as well as for cosmetic appearance, to replace facial features lost through damage or disease titanium implants meeting all the requirements of biocompatibility and strength have made possible unprecedented advances in surgery, for the successful treatment of patients with large defects and hitherto highly problematic conditions.

Cardiovascular Devices

Titanium is regularly used for pacemaker cases and defibrillators, as the carrier structure for replacement heart valves, and for intra-vascular stents.

External Prostheses

Titanium is suitable for both temporary and long term external fixations and devices as well as for orthotic callipers and artificial limbs, both of which use titanium extensively for its light weight, toughness and corrosion resistance.

Surgical Instruments

A wide range of surgical instruments are made in titanium. The metal’s lightness is a positive aid to reducing any fatigue of the surgeon. Instruments are frequently anodised to provide a non reflecting surface, essential in microsurgical operations, for example in eye surgery. Titanium instruments withstand repeat sterilisation without compromise to edge or surface quality, corrosion resistance or strength. Titanium is non magnetic, and there is therefore no threat of damage to small and sensitive implanted electronic devices.



Titanium for dental implant

In this era the chemical pure titanium is the dominant and very useful material for the dental implant there has been major change occur in the change in restorative dental practice worldwide has been possible through the use of titanium implants. A titanium ‘root’ is introduced into the jaw bone with time subsequently allowed for osseointegration. The superstructure of the tooth is then built onto the implant to give an effective replacement.

 

Surface modification of dental implant

There has been huge research has been proven on surface modification of micro and nanorough for titanium and titanium implants. If the relatively impact structure replaced with the nanostructure surface and coating numerous possibilities of the structure lead to the significant improvement in the field industry tissue.

The mechanical methods most widely used in obtaining rough and smooth ti and ti based alloy surface and its fabrication nanophase surface layer and subtraction and attrition process.



 

Conclusion

As the titanium and its alloy are considered as most promising material among the wide range of the application. Due to his unique combination of the high strength to weight ratio , melting temperature and the corrosion resistance . The principal alloys in practical use are commercially pure titanium. The mechanical properties of the latter are better, but the slight concern over the biological effects of the very minor amounts of aluminium and vanadium that they release means that cpTi is the more widely used of the two. Despite these concerns, there is a large amount of experimental evidence to show that both alloys have good bioactivity and the ability to osseointegrate. Additionally, there are few, if any, accounts of adverse effects arising from release of aluminium and/or vanadium from dental implants, probably because amounts released are so low. The use of the titanium is in the very wide area such as it is use in the mediacl field in bone and joint replacement,  cardiovascular process, surgical instrument. And the main use of the titanium is in the dental application and it is useful in many fields. For this reason, the two well-established alloys of titanium continue to be used for the overwhelming majority of implants used in dentistry, and this use seems likely to continue for the foreseeable future.



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