Current research on dental implants has mainly focused on the influence of surface
roughness on the rate of osseointegration, while studies on the development of surfaces to also
improve the interaction of peri-implant soft tissues are lacking. To this end, the first purpose of
this study was to evaluate the response of human gingival fibroblasts (hGDFs) to titanium implant
discs (Implacil De Bortoli, Brazil) having different micro and nano-topography: machined (Ti-M)
versus sandblasted/double-etched (Ti-S). The secondary aim was to investigate the effect of the
macrogeometry of the discs on cells: linear-like (Ti-L) versus wave-like (Ti-W) surfaces. The atomic
force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the Ti-S
surfaces were characterized by a significantly higher micro and nano roughness and showed the
3D macrotopography of Ti-L and Ti-W surfaces. For in vitro analyses, the hGDFs were seeded
into titanium discs and analyzed at 1, 3, and 5 days for adhesion and morphology (SEM) viability
and proliferation (Cck-8 and MTT assays). The results showed that all tested surfaces were not
cytotoxic for the hGDFs, rather the nano-micro and macro topography favored their proliferation
in a time-dependent manner. Especially, at 3 and 5 days, the number of cells on Ti-L was higher
than on other surfaces, including Ti-W surfaces. In conclusion, although further studies are needed,
our in vitro data proved that the use of implant discs with Ti-S surfaces promotes the adhesion and
proliferation of gingival fibroblasts, suggesting their use for in vivo applications.