A titanium brush is a small rotary brush with titanium-alloy bristles that a dentist uses for mechanical debridement and polishing of the exposed, contaminated surface of a dental implant. It is mounted in the implant handpiece, run at 600–1,200 rpm under sterile saline, and reaches into the implant threads where curettes and ultrasonic tips cannot. This page is about the dental instrument — not a titanium hair brush or a grill brush — and about the NiTi Brush, the nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloy brush — the titanium brush for peri-implantitis that HANS Korea has made since 2010. Titanium brushes for dental implants are made by several manufacturers and are not all alike — bristle alloy, bristle fixing and head shape differ; see how to choose a titanium brush.
The name covers two bristle materials. Some brushes use bristles of commercially pure titanium. The NiTi Brush uses nickel-titanium, the shape-memory alloy known from orthodontic archwires and endodontic files. Both are softer than the steel of a curette and harder than plastic, which is why a metal brush can debride and polish a titanium implant without cutting into it; nickel-titanium adds elasticity, so each bristle bends into the thread valley and springs back instead of bending permanently. The shaft fits a standard 20:1 contra-angle implant handpiece.
| Part | Material | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bristles | Nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape-memory alloy | Elastic enough to follow the thread profile, hard enough to remove the contaminated layer, and it does not leave steel on the implant |
| Head | Bound bristle bundle in three geometries | Pointed (NANO), open (POCKET / POCKET SHORT) or splayed (OMEGA) to match how much of the implant is exposed |
| Shaft | Standard contra-angle shank | Fits a 20:1 contra-angle implant handpiece; POCKET SHORT has a 30 mm shaft for posterior sites |
The bristle alloy, its properties and the published measurements are described on the raw material page.
The main use. After the flap is raised and granulation tissue removed, the brush debrides and polishes the exposed implant threads before the defect is grafted or the flap is closed. How this fits into the whole treatment is explained on the titanium brush for peri-implantitis page and in the six-step protocol.
Where the exposed part of the implant is smoothed with burs (implantoplasty), the brush is used on the intrabony part that is to be regenerated, and to finish the surface after the burs. Several published protocols combine the two; see the study-by-study summary.
Implants taken out because of failure can be brushed on the bench to study the surface before and after; our lab test shows 24 such implants with SEM images. Laboratory studies also measure how much titanium a brush releases compared with other instruments.
The Instructions for Use (19 languages) are the binding reference; this page is an overview.
Specifications and motor settings are on the product page; more pictures, including removed implants before and after, SEM and CBCT, are in the image gallery.
A titanium brush is one of several mechanical options — curettes, ultrasonic tips, air-polishing, lasers, implantoplasty burs — and it is usually combined with a chemical or electrolytic step and with grafting. It is not a cure on its own: the published randomised trials in which the NiTi Brush was used tested other measures (bone substitutes, membranes, adjuncts) with the brush as the common mechanical step in every arm. What those trials found is listed, paper by paper, on the literature page. A laboratory study measured the titanium released by different instruments; the NiTi Brush released about one-fifth of a metal-tip ultrasonic scaler, while air-polishing and a plastic-tip ultrasonic released less (Kao et al. 2024, listed there).
Verified publications in which the instrument is identifiable as the NiTi Brush; how the figures are counted is on the summary page.
A rotary brush with titanium-alloy bristles, driven by the implant motor, used for mechanical debridement and polishing of the exposed surface of a dental implant — most often during the surgical treatment of peri-implantitis. It is not related to titanium hair brushes or barbecue brushes.
“Titanium brush” is the generic term; several manufacturers make one, some with pure-titanium bristles. The NiTi Brush is HANS Korea’s instrument, with bristles of nickel-titanium shape-memory alloy. In papers the two names are often used interchangeably, so the packaging or the Methods section is the way to tell which instrument was used.
The bristles are softer than steel, so they do not mark the implant body the way a steel instrument can, yet hard enough to remove the contaminated layer; the implant thread geometry is preserved. Laboratory and clinical studies of the NiTi Brush are listed on the literature page; SEM images of brushed surfaces are in the lab test.
No. The NiTi Brush is a single-use instrument; it is supplied non-sterile, sterilised before use and discarded after the patient.
A 20:1 contra-angle implant handpiece on the implant motor at 600–1,200 rpm with sterile saline irrigation, for about 2–3 minutes per implant.
Through the authorised distributor for your country, listed on the contact page, or from HANS Korea directly where there is none.
Titanium brushes are used in implant dentistry to debride and polish the exposed, contaminated surface of a dental implant — mainly during the surgical treatment of peri-implantitis, and also before implantoplasty or on removed implants for research.
