Bisphosphonates Shown to Affect Dental Implant Surgery

However, BP therapy in terms of successful dental implantation has not been well documented. Dental implantation tends to be highly predicative in terms of effectiveness, but when medication is introduced that will change the overall landscape of the mandible (jawbone) structure, implant failure can be a side effect.

Researchers from the Kanagawa Dental University Hospital and the Tokyo Medical and Dental University have recently performed a study focused on the use of BP therapy and its effect on the quality of the mandible. The researchers evaluated the bone mineral density and cortical bone thickness (the outer layer bone thickness) of the mandible, as well as how long-term BP therapy affected early implant failure.

This study included 25 female patients, at least 60 years of age, with a previous osteoporosis diagnosis, and who underwent dental implant surgery in the mandible between January 2010 and March 2013. The patients were divided into two groups: (1) the BP group consisted of 11 patients who had been taking BPs for more than one year, and (2) the remaining 14 patients were in the non-BP group and had been prescribed a type of hormone therapy. The patients were compared using several computed tomography (CT) scans of their mandible to gauge bone mineral densities, cortical bone thickness, and the effect that the duration of BP therapy had on these two factors.