Titanium is a strong, lightweight, and biocompatible metal that can bond with human bone, making it ideal for medical and dental implants. Its unique properties allow for tailored designs and surface treatments to promote osseointegration and increase longevity.
Titanium is a strong, light, silver-gray metal found quite commonly in igneous rocks and geological deposits. Titanium has a number of impressive properties, including the ability to bond with human bone in a process called biointegration or osseointegration. Because of this, and because the body won’t reject it, this metal can be used for a variety of medical and dental purposes. Hip and knee replacements, for example, often involve the use of a titanium implant.
The unique properties of titanium make it particularly suitable for medical applications. It is very strong for its weight, virtually non-magnetic, and fully compatible with the human body. This is very noteworthy, because metallic elements are not found in many places in the human body. Where metals exist, they are almost always there as parts of other molecules and complexes rather than in elemental form. This is the case with iron, which binds to oxygen in the bloodstream.
Approximately one million patients worldwide are treated each year for the replacement of arthritic or damaged hips and knees. The range of titanium alloys available allows implant designers to closely tailor the material to the desired application. A titanium implant of the correct alloy will not corrode once inside the body, as an implant of any other metal would. It is one of the few materials that naturally satisfies every need for implantation in the human body.
An added benefit of titanium is that there are ways in which to treat the surface of a titanium implant to further promote osseointegration. For example, giving the implant a rough surface and treating it with a bioactive agent such as hydroxyapatite will stimulate osseointegration and also increase the life of the implant. This is of particular importance for younger patients, and also because older patients, with increasing life expectancy.
The field of dentistry is also finding more and more use for titanium implants. A titanium implant for dental use typically consists of a screw that resembles the root of a tooth and has a smooth or rough surface. The “root” is placed in the jawbone and the osseointegration process can take place over several weeks or months. When the time is right, a dentist will then attach a crown to the root. Since the root is already integrated, the patient is therefore immediately able to use the new implant as if it were a natural tooth.
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