Development of a Novel Medical Device for Mucositis and Peri-Implantitis Treatment

Bioengineering (Basel). 2020 Aug 5;7(3):87. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering7030087.

Abstract

In spite of all the developments in dental implantology techniques, peri-implant diseases are frequent (prevalence up to 80% and 56% of subjects for mucositis and peri-implantitis, respectively) and there is an urgency for an effective treatment strategy. This paper presents an innovative electromedical device for the electromagnetic treatment of mucositis and peri-implantitis diseases. This device is also equipped with a measurement part for bioimpedance, which reflects the health conditions of a tissue, thus allowing clinicians to objectively detect impaired areas and to monitor the severity of the disease, evaluate the treatment efficacy, and adjust it accordingly. The design of the device was realized considering literature data, clinical evidence, numerical simulation results, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) pre-compliance tests, involving both clinicians and engineers, to better understand all the needs and translate them into design requirements. The reported system is being tested in more than 50 dental offices since 2019, providing efficient treatments for mucositis and peri-implantitis, with success rates of approximately 98% and 80%, respectively.

Keywords: bioimpedance; dental implants; dentistry; electromagnetic compatibility; immunity testing; medical device; mucositis; peri-implant diseases; peri-implantitis; radio frequency.