Antiresorptive therapy and dental implant survival: an up to 20-year retrospective cohort study in women

Objectives To investigate the effects of antiresorptive treatment on the survival of plateau-root form dental implants. Materials and methods Patients undergoing antiresorptive therapy via oral or intravenous administration as well as patients not undergoing antiresorptive therapy and healthy control patients were included in this retrospective cohort study. In total, 1472 implants placed in 631 postmenopausal patients (M: 66.42 ± 9.10 years old), who were followed for a period of up to 20 years (8.78 ± 5.68 years). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression, clustered by each patient, was used to evaluate and study factors affecting the survival of their implants. Results Implants placed in patients undergoing oral antiresorptive treatment presented significantly higher survival rates, than implants placed in the osteoporosis/osteopenia control cohort ( p value < 0.001), and similar survival rates, when compared to healthy controls ( p value = 0.03). Additionally, clustered univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis also revealed higher implant survival when oral antiresorptive drugs ( p value = 0.01 and 0.007, respectively) were used, and lower implant survival in the presence of untreated osteoporosis/osteopenia ( p value = 0.002 and 0.005, respectively). Overall, the 20-year implant survival in osteoporotic patients undergoing antiresorptive therapy was 94%. For the failed implants, newly replaced implants in patients under antiresorptive treatment presented a 10-year survival of 89%. Conclusions Long-term plateau-root form implant survival in osteoporotic patients taking oral antiresorptives was similar to a healthy population and significantly higher than the untreated controls. Clinical relevance These results suggest that plateau-root form implants provide a robust solution for treating tooth loss in patients, who are undergoing antiresorptive therapy.