Therefore, in this study, phloxine B staining was used to detect residual contamination on the surface of the healing abutments.

Previous studies also pointed out that low direct current can kill oral bacteria forming in biofilm. Although charging the implant surface with current can kill the bacteria, organic residues still remain adhering on the surface. Infected implants present carbon-based contaminants and considerable changes in titanium surfaces composition even after sterilization. This could be the reason why new bone formation on previously contaminated implant surfaces, also known as re-osseointegration, remains unknown. Therefore, complete decontamination around infected implant surfaces requires the clinical attention to achieve implant success. Electrolytic cleaning needs mechanical cleaning for complete removal of organic contaminants to achieve re-osseointegration in infected implants. Without any mechanical cleaning, the optimized electrochemical treatment was able to achieve complete decontamination on the contaminated metal surface in the present study. Biofilm-like structure was not seen in all tested healing abutments. This could be due to the effectiveness of using SDS as a presoaking detergent and the use of chemical detergents may increase the efficacy of the cleaning procedure by dissolving debris and decreasing surface tension.

Anodic potentials were found to inactive bacteria and eliminate their biomolecules by generating bactericidal oxidative species through the following electrolytic reactions.

1. (1)

   2H₂O = O₂ + 4H⁺ + 4e⁻

2. (2)

   H₂O = HO + H⁺ + e⁻