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Figure 1

Figure 1: Microradiographic image of SurfLink® Dental treated implant at two weeks after placement in sheep. The implant is closely in contact with both cortical and cancel­lous bone.

Figure 2

Figure 2: Fluorescent image of SurfLink® Dental treated implant at two weeks after placement in sheep. Early osseointegration with active bone modelling is evident by the presence of calcein green at the bone-to-implant interface.

Figure 3

Figure 3: SEM (X1000) image of SurfLink® Dental treated dental implant subjected to removal torque testing 52 weeks after placement in sheep. The image shows the implant surface fully covered with bone tissue and that fracture occurred within the bone rather than at the bone-to-implant interface.

Surflink technology

Next Generation Medical Implant Surface Treatment

SurfLink® Dental implant surface treatment by NBMolecules® produces a monolayer of permanentlybound multi-phosphonate molecules on the surface of an implant. This novel phosphonaterich surface mimics one of the main constituents of bone, hydroxyapatite, providing a favourable environment for cell colonisation.

SurfLink® Dental is easy to use directly in the clinic and the majority of dental implant designs and surfaces, available on today’s dental implant market, qualify for SurfLink® Dental surface treatment. SurfLink® Dental is delivered as a sterile aqueous solution, ready-to-use to treat a single dental implant.

The biomimetic properties of the SurfLink® treated surface will:

  • Increase hydrophilicity of the implant surface
  • Favour bone cell adhesion and cell colonisation
  • Enable early bone formation on the implant surface
  • Yield considerably greater bone-to-implant contact
  • Enhance early and long-term biomechanical fixation
  • Promise long-term implant stability and true osseointegration

Over the past decades, advances in refining the surface properties of titanium dental implants have dramatically reduced implant failure rate. The use of biomimetic agents has substantially increased our understanding of what takes place at the bone-to-implant interface. As a result, biocompatibility of implants has improved. Osseointegration and subsequent implant stability have been furthered.

Biomimetic agent coatings, such as bioceramics (hydroxyapatite, and other calcium phosphate phases), have been placed on the implant market. Such surface coatings have presented some advantages, but have also produced certain integrity problems (dissolution, delamination, particlerelease) increasing implant failure rate. The SurfLink® Dental surface treatment, which permanently modifies the surface chemistry of implants, was developed to overcome the shortcomings of coatings.

The SurfLink® Surface treatment by NBMolecules® is applicable on metallic or ceramic implants, e.g. dental and orthopedic.


Research

Experimental studies on the SurfLink® Dental treated titanium implants are summarised in a series of White Papers (WP). Their conclusions are briefly presented below.

WP1 Surface characterisation
SurfLink® binds efficiently to titanium and results in a highly hydrophilic dental implant by virtue of a biomimetic phosphate-like monolayer on the surface.

WP2 Chemical stability
SurfLink® remains firmly bound to the dental implant surface between pH 1 and 9. The shortcomings of today’s calcium phosphate coatings whereby degradation leads to dissolution, delamination and particle release into the body under certain physiological conditions are avoided by using SurfLink® Dental surface treatment, which promises long-term implant stability over a wide pH range.

WP3 A variety of dental implants and materials
Most dental implant designs and surfaces qualify for SurfLink® Dental surface treatment by NBMolecules®. SurfLink® Dental treatment can even be used with various oxide implant sur­faces, such as zirconia, which only recently have reached the dental implant market.

WPs 4-6 summerise a pre-clinical experimental study in sheep

WP4 Histology
Histological and radiographic evidence clearly show, even by 2 weeks, that SurfLink® Dental treatment prompts early bone formation on and around the implant surface. And, at 52 weeks, SurfLink® Dental treated implants show a considerably greater bone-to-implant contact (BIC).

WP5 Scanning Electron Microscopy
SEM observations of SurfLink® Dental treated implants show abundant bone coverage with fractures occurring within bone rather than at the bone to implant interface.

WP6 Biomechanics
SurfLink® Dental treated implants show enhanced biomechani­cal fixation at both early and long-term time points.

WP7 SurfLink® Dental Clinical Trials in Progress
Two major prospective Rando­mised Clinical Trials (RCTs) have been designed and launched with the aim of evaluating patient safety and effectiveness of the SurfLink® Dental surface treatment. In the Pilot Clinical Trial, all patients have undergone implant surgery. In the Multicentre Clinical Trial, patient recruitment is ongoing.
To date (October 2011), 83 SurfLink® Dental treated implants have been placed. There has been no loss of implants in either study, and no adverse events occurred. Preliminary results are expected in mid-2012.