Physicochemical properties of advanced nanostructured materials for dental microimplant coatings

Abstract

An important aspect of orthodontic microimplants is represented by biocompatibility and avoidance of infection development at living tissue surrounding it. Therefore, nanotechnology has the ability to improve this issue by coating microimplants with metal oxides type nanomaterials possessing antimicrobial effect. Some features of advanced nanostructured materials used as implant coatings, such as composition, structure, specific surface area, porosity, shape and size are factors that make them suitable as antimicrobial agents. The present work deals with the structural and morphological studies of ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles used to combat oral diseases. Coating microimplants with nanosized titanium oxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) may improve conditions for osseointegration in accordance with preventing oral infection. These metal oxides nanopowders were synthesized using sol-gel method. Structural and morphological investigation were carried out by XRD and FTIR spectra, SEM-EDX and TEM images respectively. XRD and FTIR analyses confirmed metal oxides crystallization and metal oxide bonds. SEM-EDX and TEM features confirmed elemental composition of these nanoparticles and their textural characteristics such as shape, size, porosity and agglomeration degree.