Vertical bone augmentation induced by ultrathin hydroxyapatite sputtered coated mini titanium implants in a rabbit calvaria model

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vertical new bone formation induced by sputtered HA‐coated titanium implants (HA‐coated) compared with sandblasted acid‐etched titanium implants (noncoated) in a rabbit calvarial model. Materials and method Twenty HA‐coated and 20 noncoated titanium implants were divided equally into four groups as HA‐coated implant (HA); noncoated implant (NC); HA‐coated implant with membrane (HA/M); noncoated implant with membrane (NC/M). All implants were placed 5 mm above the original bone (OB). Collagen membranes were placed over the implants in HA/M and NC/M groups. The animals were sacrificed at 4 weeks ( n  = 5) and 8 weeks ( n  = 5). Vertical bone height above OB (VBH, mm) and augmented bone area (ABA, mm 2 ) were analyzed histologically and radiographically. Results At 4 weeks, VBH reached significantly higher level in HA/M group compared with other three groups ( p  < 0.05). At 8 weeks, significant difference was detected between HA/M and NC groups ( p  < 0.05). At 4 and 8 weeks, ABA in HA/M group was significantly larger compared with other three groups ( p  < 0.05). Conclusion The present results indicated that sputtered HA‐coated titanium implant together with collagen membrane could be a novel and effective approach for vertical bone augmentation. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 103B: 1700–1708, 2015.