Designed for dental implant applications, dental healing caps are molded out of polysulfone (PSU) resin that features toughness, biocompatibility, and sterilizability. The dental healing caps are the result of a collaboration between Nobel Biocare Zurich, a supplier of restorative and aesthetic dental products, and plastics producer Solvay Advanced Polymers, Alpharetta, GA. Solvay supplied the Eviva PSU resin used to make the caps. The resin is part of Solvay’s Solviva line of biomaterials designed for use in implantable medical devices.

Shaped similarly to thimbles, the 4-mm-tall caps range in diameter from 4 to 6 mm. They can be used is such applications as tooth replacements because they are biocompatible with gum tissue. For example, a dental implant such as a titanium screw is screwed into a bone in the mouth and then an abutment is placed in the implant. The healing cap is then snapped onto the abutment. After the tissue has healed, the cap is removed and a replacement tooth can be cemented into place. When subjected to testing, the biocompatible resin produced no evidence of cytotoxicity, acute systemic toxicity, or sensitization, according to the supplier. It is offered in opaque white and transparent natural.