Soldent: a New Osteoinductive Product for Dental Implants

Titanium and its alloys are widely used in dental implantology due to their low density, high resistance to corrosion, good mechanical properties and its biocompatibility [1]. However, sometimes patients are considered unsuitable for these interventions due to different reasons, some of them related to poor bone regeneration capacity. A better bone growth and therefore, a high implant osseointegration, can be achieved by implant surface functionalization through the application of bioactive coatings [2]. In this sense, new silica hybrid sol-gel coatings with biodegradable and osteoinductive characteristics were developed and applied onto Ti dental implants. This osteoinductive capability is attributed to their ability to release silicon compounds during the hydrolytic degradation of the sol-gel network [3]. Silicon is directly related with metabolic processes associated with the formation and calcification of bone [4]. It develops a biological crosslinking agent role, contributing to the resistance architecture and generation of connective tissues. Moreover, the silicon released in the Si(OH)4 form promotes the synthesis of collagen type I and enhances osteoblastic differentiation [5,6].