NaOCl-mediated biofunctionalization enhances bone-titanium integration.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of NaOCl pretreatment on the biomechanical fixation of implant at the early healing stage of a rat model. Polished titanium cylindrical implants and disks were prepared, and one-half of these samples were dual acidetched. Then, one-half of both surfaces were chemically-cleaned by pretreatment with 5% NaOCl solution for 24 h. Morphological analyses showed that there was no significant difference between before and after NaOCl treatment. The wettability measurement demonstrated that NaOCl treatment secondarily converted both titanium surfaces from hydrophobic to superhydrophilic, accompanied by the removal of hydrocarbons from the titanium surfaces. Biomechanical push-in test indicated that the bone-titanium integration strength of the NaOCl-treated implants were significantly greater than that of the untreated implants (p<0.05). These results showed that NaOCl pretreatment enhanced the osseointegration capability of titanium, indicating its potential for a simple chemical chair-side pretreatment method.