Surface Modification and Functionalities for Titanium Dental Implants

Dental implants have become the mainstream strategy for oral restoration, and implant materials are the most important research hot spot in this field. So far, Ti implants dominate all kinds of implants. The surface properties of the Ti implant play decisive roles in osseointegration and antibacterial performance. Surface modifications can significantly change the surface micro/nanotopography and composition of Ti implants, which will effectively improve their hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, osseointegration performance, antibacterial performance, etc. These optimizations will thus improve implant success and service life. In this paper, the latest surface modification techniques of Ti dental implants are systematically and comprehensively reviewed. The various biomedical functionalities of surface modifications are discussed in-depth. Finally, a profound comment on the challenges and opportunities of this frontier is proposed, and the most promising directions for the future were explored.