This study aimed to evaluate the effects of fibronectin and oxysterol immobilized on machined-surface dental implants for the enhancement of cell attachment and osteogenic differentiation, on peri-implant bone healing in the early healing phase using an experimental model in dogs.

Five types of dental implants were installed at a healed alveolar ridge in five dogs: a machined-surface implant (MI), apatite-coated MI (AMI), fibronectin-loaded AMI (FAMI), oxysterol-loaded AMI (OAMI), and sand-blasted, large-grit, acid-etched surface implant (SLAI). A randomly selected unilateral ridge was observed for 2 weeks, and the contralateral ridge for a 4-week period. Histologic and histometric analyses were performed for the bone-to-implant contact proportion (BIC) and bone density around the dental implant surface.

Different bone healing patterns were observed according to the type of implant surface 2 weeks after installation; newly formed bone continuously lined the entire surfaces in specimens of the FAMI and SLAI groups, whereas bony trabecula from adjacent bone tissue appeared with minimal new bone lining onto the surface in the MI, AMI, and OAMI groups. Histometric results revealed a significant reduction in the BIC in MI, AMI, and OAMI compared to SLAI, but FAMI demonstrated a comparable BIC with SLAI. Although both the BIC and bone density increased from a 2- to 4-week healing period, bone density showed no significant difference among any of the experimental and control groups.

A fibronectin-coated implant surface designed for cell adhesion could increase contact osteogenesis in the early bone healing phase, but an oxysterol-coated implant surface designed for osteoinductivity could not modify early bone healing around implants in normal bone physiology.