Bacterial microleakage at the implant-abutment interface in Morse taper implants

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the microleakage at the implant-abutment (I-A) interface of Morse tapered implants inoculated with different volumes of bacterial suspension. Methods: Morse tapered IA sets were selected and divided in two groups depending on the type of abutment: passing screw (PS) and solid (S), and then subdivided into four subgroups (n=6) according to the suspension volume: PS1: 0.1 µL; PS3: 0.3 µL; PS5: 0.5 µL; PS7: 0.7 µL; S1: 0.1 µL; S3: 0.3 µL; S5: 0.5 µL and S7: 0.7 µL. A control test was performed to verify the presence of external contamination during the inoculation and the implants were incubated for microbiological analysis. The microleakage was evaluated every 24 h for 7 days by the clarity of solution. After this period, the implants were disassembled for confirmation of bacterial viability. Results: All the specimens with 0.7 µL and one sample of S5 presented turbidity in the control test indicating external contamination, and were excluded from the study. After 7 days of observation, none of the specimens presented positive results for microleakage and the bacterial viability was confirmed in all specimens. The 0.1 µL and 0.3 µL volumes did not present bacterial microleakage, meaning that these volumes may be inadequate for analysis. Conclusions: None of the sets evaluated showed bacterial microleakage at the I-A interface and the volume of 0.7 µL exceeded the internal capacity of the implants.