Honoured for thesis on the healing of dental implants
Anna Göransson has been awarded the Swedish Dental Association´s prize for the best thesis of 2007 for deepening the current understanding of how the healing of dental implants is affected by the interaction between the implant and the surrounding bone.
Every year about 2 million people worldwide receive dental implants anchored directly into the jawbone. Normal dental implants must first heal for about six months before the prosthesis can be fitted. “It would mean a lot to the patients if we could find a new way of speeding up the healing process. It is true that there are examples of implants that can be fitted with artificial teeth directly into certain areas of the jaw, but they function less well in other areas and the methods are controversial," says Anna Göransson.
Together with her research colleagues at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Chalmers University of Technology, Anna Göransson has developed a titanium screw with an extremely thin layer of a bone-like substance called hydroxyapatite. One of the parts of the thesis shows that this titanium screw gets a positive response from cultured cells.
“Compared with three other types of titanium screw which are also considered to be bioactive, these screws showed significant differences in our cell cultures. The cells produced more proteins which favour bone formation. But even though results appear to be extremely positive, it is still too early to say that this really is the titanium implant of the future," says Anna Göransson.
Earlier trials using the substance hydroxyapatite on titanium screws have given good short-term results but the outcome in the longer term has been disappointing.
“The earlier setbacks have been due largely to the layer of hydroxyapatite being too thick. After a period of time the layer has cracked, broken down and given rise to inflammation," says Anna Göransson.
According to the commendation for the prize, Anna Göransson has “through stringent illumination of the present state of knowledge, and in five pieces of work, methodically and elegantly studied the biological factors which can affect the healing of titanium implants".
Anna Göransson defended her thesis On Possibly Bioactive CP Titanium Implant Surfaces last year. The examiner was Professor Ann Wennerberg.
