Reliable surface modification of dental plastic substrates to reduce biofouling with a photoreactive phospholipid polymer

Plastic substrates have been widely applied in clinical settings for dental treatments. These substrates should be strong enough for long-term implantation in the oral cavity and should be resistant to biofouling. We developed a new photoreactive phospholipid polymer to reduce biofouling on dental plastics via a photochemical reaction. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) were used as dental plastics. To determine the antibiofouling properties on the polymer surface, the phospholipid polymer was covalently immobilized on the substrates by UV irradiation. We evaluated the antibiofouling properties by observing the protein adsorption and cell and bacterial adhesion. Significant protein adsorption and cell adhesion appeared on the bare PMMA and PEEK substrates but decreased dramatically after surface modification with the phospholipid polymer. Thus, this photoreactive polymer shows potential for conferring dental plastics with antibiofouling properties. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46512.