Investigation of the Wetting Properties of Thalassemia Patients' Blood Samples on Grade 5 Titanium Implant Surfaces: A Pilot Study

Background and Objectives: Beta-thalassemia (BT) has a high prevalence in Mediterranean, Southeast Asian, and African countries. Studies stated that thalassemia is an endemic disease that causes significant health problems in Cyprus. This study aimed to measure the contact angle between the implant and blood samples from BT major patients and healthy individuals to compare the contact angles and wettability of Grade 5 titanium implant surfaces. Materials and Methods: Grade 5 titanium discs that were 10 mm in diameter were used since they mimic the surface of dental implants. Following receiving informed consent, blood samples were taken from the patients' index fingers in each group with lancet needles and a photo of the contact angle between the blood samples and the titanium surface was taken; the collected blood was transferred to a titanium disc with a medical pipette. ImageJ software with a specific contact angle plugin was used for the contact angle measurements. Results: Theta-mean, theta-circular, and theta-ellipse values were compared between all groups, and no significant difference was found (p > 0.05). Conclusions: In this study, it was hypothesized that the patients' rheological property of decreased deformability would affect the wettability of implant surfaces in vitro; however, no such finding was reached in this study. Since in-depth studies associated with dental implant success in BTM patients are absent in the literature and Cyprus is one of the Mediterranean countries with a high prevalence of BTM, this study was conducted to enrich the literature. While some systemic diseases may affect the contact angle between the implant surface and blood, it can be concluded that this condition was not present for BTM patients in our study. Last but not least, we emphasize that this experiment was done on a single surface type and the results can be totally different when using other surface types.