Antibacterial Properties of Triethoxysilylpropyl Succinic Anhydride Silane (TESPSA) on Titanium Dental Implants

Infections related to dental implants are a common complication that can ultimately lead to implant failure, and thereby carries significant health and economic costs. In order to ward off these infections, this paper explores the immobilization of triethoxysilylpropyl succinic anhydride (TESPSA, TSP) silane onto dental implants, and the interaction of two distinct monospecies biofilms and an oral plaque with the coated titanium samples. To this end, titanium disks from prior machining were first activated by a NaOH treatment and further functionalized with TESPSA silane. A porous sodium titanate surface was observed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses confirmed the presence of TESPSA on the titanium samples (8.4% for Ti–N-TSP). Furthermore, a lactate dehydrogenase assay concluded that TESPSA did not have a negative effect on the viability of human fibroblasts. Importantly, the in vitro effect of modified surfaces against Streptococcus sanguinis, Lactobacillus salivarius and oral plaque were studied using a viable bacterial adhesion assay. A significant reduction was achieved in all cases but, as expected, with different effectiveness against simple mono-species biofilm (ratio dead/live of 0.4) and complete oral biofilm (ratio dead/live of 0.6). Nevertheless, this approach holds a great potential to provide dental implants with antimicrobial properties.