Antibacterial coatings on titanium implants.

Abstract

Titanium and titanium alloys are key biomedical materials because of their good biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Nevertheless, infection on and around titanium implants still remains a problem which is usually difficult to treat and may lead to eventual implant removal. As a result, preventive measures are necessary to mitigate implant-frelated infection. One important strategy is to render the implant surface antibacterial by impeding the formation of a biofilm. A number of approaches have been proposed for this purpose and they are reviewed in this article.