Effect of tribocorrosion on surface-treated titanium alloy implants: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare the results of tribocorrosion in titanium alloys of dental implants submitted to surface treatment with those whose treatment was not performed. An electronic search was carried out on the MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Virtual Health Library and Scopus databases. The search strategy used was PECO: Participants (P): titanium alloys; Exposure (E): surface treatment; Comparison (C): absence of surface treatment; and Result/Outcome (O): tribocorrosion. The search found a total of 336 articles, where 27 was selected by title or abstract, resulted to 10 after reading in full. The treatments that formed the rutile layer had better tribological results and therefore better protected the material from mechanical and chemical degradation, contrary to the technique with the addition of nanotubes. It was concluded that the surface treatment proves to be efficient to protect metals from mechanical and chemical wear.