Angela defends her PhD on dental implant surface decontamination

Angela De Lauretis has successfully defended her PhD thesis in at the University of Oslo. Her research explores new mechanical and chemical strategies to remove salivary proteins from titanium dental implant surfaces, aiming to improve implant decontamination while preserving biological function.

Last Thursday, Angela De Lauretis successfully defended her PhD thesis at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo.

Her thesis, titled "Decontamination of Titanium Dental Implant Surfaces: Mechanical and Chemical Strategies Targeting Salivary Proteins," addresses one of the central clinical challenges in implant dentistry: how to clean contaminated titanium implant surfaces effectively without damaging the surface properties needed for tissue healing.

Angela's thesis on the decontamination of dental implants

The work was carried out at the Department of Biomaterials, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, as an Industrial PhD project funded by the Research Council of Norway and Corticalis AS.

Dental implants are widely used to replace missing teeth, but their long-term success can be compromised when salivary proteins and bacteria accumulate on the implant surface. De Lauretis' research focused on how salivary proteins form an early conditioning layer on titanium surfaces and how this layer can be targeted through mechanical and chemical debridement strategies. She has developed a new titanium brush that is now CE-labelled and ready for clinical use.

Her findings show that titanium brushes and Poloxamer 407-based hydrogels, particularly when combined with hydrogen peroxide, can remove biological contamination while maintaining surface properties relevant to cell adhesion and healing. The thesis also examined sterilisation strategies for Poloxamer 407 hydrogels, an important step towards possible clinical translation.

Before the defence, De Lauretis delivered her trial lecture on the topic "Material–Tissue Interactions in Dental Implants: The Role of Chemistry, Topography, and Bioactivity."

The study also makes an important contribution to peri-implant health. The core part of the thesis is presented in seven peer-reviewed publications with a wide array of international collaboration:

Paper I	Combined Chemical and Mechanical Debridement Enhances Salivary Protein Removal from Titanium while Maintaining Biological Properties De Lauretis A, Santacroce M, Wang Q, Ramirez Garrastacho M, Ma Q, Haugen HJ. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2026.
Paper II	A Comparative Study of the Impact of Chemical Debridement Products on the Proteomic Profile of the Salivary Pellicle and Cell Adhesion on OsseoSpeed Titanium Dental Implant Surfaces De Lauretis A, Wang Q, Santacroce M, Thiede B, Ma Q, Lyngstadaas SP, Haugen HJ. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 17(39), 54579–54592, 2025.
Paper III	Surface-specific outcomes of mechanical debridement with titanium, chitosan and nitinol brushes on titanium dental implant surfaces De Lauretis A, Santacroce M, Ellingsen JE, Lyngstadaas SP, Linke D, Haugen HJ. Journal of Dentistry, 106010, 2025.
Paper IV	Balancing sterilisation and functional properties in Poloxamer 407 hydrogels: comparing heat and radiation techniques De Lauretis A, Eriksson Agger A, Pal A, Skov Pedersen J, Szostak SM, Haugen HJ. Regenerative Biomaterials, 12, rbaf005, 2025.