There have been suggestions that sufficient irrigation around the implant and suction of metallic debris during surgical procedures, such as implantoplasty, might reduce the deposition of metallic particles and ions into surrounding tissue. However, there is no scientific evidence that such measures can fully remove implantoplasty debris from the surround environment, and these procedures can also disseminate bacteria into the surrounding tissues. Previous studies indicated that the cytotoxicity of vanadium ion is dose dependent, where concentrations of 23–30 μM (1.17–1.53 μg ml−¹) significantly reduced cell viability in NIH3T3 fibroblasts. Herein, the V concentration was approximately 0.1 μg ml−¹ after 10 days of exposure to DMEM, which does explain the significant reduction in viability of HGFs.

Previous studies suggested the viability of calvarial rat osteoblasts in direct contact with G4 CpTi particles (unspecified grade, particle diameter 3.1 ± 3.6 μm) with a concentration higher than 1.5 mg ml−¹ decreased significantly due to rapid phagocytic process. In the present study, the viability of HGFs appeared to be not affected by G4 CpTi implant particles, even at high concentrations (3 mg ml−¹).