The cleaning and thiolation of commercial titanium for use in dental prostheses

The surfaces of both commercial titanium and the dental implants made from it were found to be heavily contaminated by atmospheric exposure and processing. Potentiostatic anodic polarization was found to be an effective method of removing this contaminant. Subsequent reaction with dilute solutions of long-chain mercaptans, without exposure to atmosphere, proved to be an effective method of passivating and protecting the cleaned surface. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved