The surface characteristics of the dental implant abutment which penetrates through the gingival mucosa and is exposed to the oral cavity play an important role not only for the biocompatibility but also for the bacterial adhesion and stagnation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the surface characteristics of 5 commercially available implant abutments which were Brånemark (Nobel Biocare, Gothenburg, Sweden), Astra (AstraTech, Mölndal, Sweden), IMZ (Friatec, Mannheim, Germany), STERI-OSS (Denar, CA, USA) and POI (Kyocera, Kyoto, Japan). The three dimensional imaging and analysis of the surface topography were carried out using a confocal laser scanning profilometer (TopScan 3D). The chemical composition of abutment surfaces was analyzed by Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). The results indicated that quite different surface features were shown in three dimensional images. These features reflected roughness parameters. Sa and Scx values of these abutments in micron were Brånemark (0.23 +/- 0.09, 7.76 +/- 0.64), Astra (0.23 +/- 0.05, 7.92 +/- 0.25), IMZ (0.18 +/- 0.03, 7.76 +/- 0.80), STERI-OSS (0.15 +/- 0.01, 10.22 +/- 0.90) and POI (0.24 +/- 0.01, 8.08 +/- 0.77), respectively. The chemical elemental analysis showed all specimens to have thin titanium oxide layers (approximately 4 to 7 nm) except POI which is anodized titanium alloy, hence it has rather a thick oxide layer (95 to 110 nm). Some minor elemental traces (S, Si and P) were also seen on the outermost layer. The specimens which were investigated in this study varied in their topography and elemental composition. These variations were strongly due to the manufacturing processes which were milling, polishing, cleaning and sometimes oxidation methods.