Objective: The study evaluated the periimplant mucosa at non-submerged, one-piece, micro-implants in humans. Methods: Four experimental titanium micro-implants with a thick microporous oxide layer (Nobel Biocare AB, Sweden) were placed in the posterior region of the mandible or the maxilla of 2 patients. After 2 months of healing, the implants and the surrounding soft and hard tissues were harvested. The specimens were fixed and prepared for descriptive histology by light-, scanning (SEM)- and transmission electron microscopy. Results: The clinically healthy soft tissues included a junctional epithelium (JE) which was 1.6±0.1mm in height and up to 100 µm thick and was separated from the bone crest by a zone of connective tissue, 2.1±0.1mm in height. The JE was composed of cuboidal basal and flat suprabasal cells. The attachment to the implant surface was mediated by a basal lamina and numerous hemidesmosomes. Lysosomal bodies and occasionally bacteria were encountered in the cytoplasma of JE-cells facing the implant surface. Neutrophilic emigration corresponding to that occurring in a clinically healthy gingiva around teeth, could be followed from the connective tissue venoles through widened intercellular spaces of the JE to the sulcus. In the connective tissue zone, the collagen fibrils and the fibroblasts were oriented parallel to the implant surface. No connective tissue attachment to the implant surface was found. SEM analyses revealed rather an intimate adaptation of the connective tissue than a functional attachment by collagen fibrils. Conclusions: The cyto- and histoarchitecture of the periimplant junctional epithelium corresponded to that around teeth. The periimplant mucosa was attached to the implant surface by hemidesmosomes of the JE only. This attachment was not supported by the connective tissue. The structures of the intrinsic defense system against infection of the periimplant mucosa corresponded to that around teeth.

Back to the Implantology Research Program
Back to the 81st General Session of the International Association for Dental Research (June 25-28, 2003)

Top Level Search