Background: Previous studies show that the treatment of the implant surface presents more bone formation than the turned implants. Other studies indicate the possibility of having an implant in bone that has undergone radiotherapy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to verify if the use of treated surface implants presents a better bone-to-implant contact rather than machined surface implants in irradiated and no irradiated bone.

Materials and methods: Twenty-four Wistar rats (Rattus Norvegicus) and forty-eight mini implants were used in this study. A dose of 30 Gy irradiation was delivered to the right leg of all rats, the left leg was kept as a control group. A turned surface implant was installed to the bilateral tibia thirty days after irradiation. Other twelve rats received a treated surface implant in the tibia bilaterally. The implants were recovered after 28 and 84 days and a bone-to-implant contact histometry and a bone density was carried out.

Results: The bone-to-implant contact after 84 days in turned implants was 36.2% and in treated implants 51.5% in irradiated bone ( p = 0.005).

Conflict of interest: None declared.