Cross-disciplinary research boosts implant longevity

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 17 July 2025

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LONDON, Ontario, Canada: Implants—whether in the jaw or the hip—are a vital part of restoring function and quality of life for millions of patients. Despite differences in their applications, orthopaedic and dental implants share similarities in terms of materials, performance expectations and the types of failures clinicians encounter. Yet, research and clinical practice in these two fields have remained largely siloed. A new interdisciplinary initiative led by Western University in Canada is challenging this divide by bringing together experts in dentistry, orthopaedics, biomaterials and corrosion science. Their shared goal is to better understand why implants fail—and to use those insights to improve implant longevity and performance as well as patient outcomes across both disciplines.

From left: Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Brent Lanting, corrosion expert Dr Yolanda Hedberg and restorative dentistry researcher Dr Les Kalman. (Image: Parshati Patel/Western Research)

“As a corrosion scientist, it seemed obvious to me that orthopaedic and dental implants should be studied together,” Dr Yolanda Hedberg, Canada Research Chair in Corrosion Science and a scientist at Western University’s Bone and Joint Institute, said in a press release.

She continued: “Not only are the implant materials similar, but clinicians describe the ways the implants fail by loosening or becoming infected in similar terms. By bringing together different disciplines, we hope to identify patient and implant factors leading to failure and share this with implant manufacturers and care teams, to develop and test new implant technologies and surgical techniques.”

Since joining the university in 2020, Dr Hedberg has worked with orthopaedic surgeon Dr Brent Lanting and the Implant Retrieval Laboratory at London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute. In 2024, she partnered with Dr Les Kalman, assistant professor of restorative dentistry at Western University, to form a multidisciplinary team focused on implant longevity and failure prevention. The team includes experts in surgery, biomaterials, medical imaging and infection from institutions such as the University of Ottawa and the University of Manitoba in Canada, as well as Dartmouth College and Rush University Medical Center in the US.

Supported by seed funding and staff from the Bone and Joint Institute, the team aims to investigate implant failures and to maximise the function and lifespan of implants, ultimately improving patient outcomes in both dental and orthopaedic care. The project will focus on identifying common failure modes in orthopaedic and dental implants, comparing clinical approaches across disciplines and studying the effect of corrosion on implant stability using advanced 3D-printed bone models. Laboratory capabilities will allow the team to accelerate the corrosion process, enabling more efficient testing and development.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for dentistry to work with orthopaedic researchers and bring together the best of both communities,” Dr Kalman said in the press release. “The Bone and Joint Institute has helped us tremendously to bring the team together and go after funding opportunities to support our work. I can’t wait to see the impact we will bring to the field,” he added.

The team has already received a grant from the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research to support a collaborative workshop this year, and additional funding applications are underway to further expand research using Canada’s largest implant retrieval database. The team is pursuing long-term research funding too.