Osseointegration Pharmacology

Abstract

The process of osseointegration around dental implants is similar to the biological events occurring during bone repair and fracture healing. Therefore, bone metabolic activity plays a crucial role on the success of osseointegration, and dysregulation of bone metabolism can have a negative impact on bone healing and implant osseointegration. Accordingly, it could be hypothesized that drugs interfering with healing and bone metabolism could affect osseointegration and implant survival. Looking into the relationship between pharmacology, osseointegration, and dental implants, drugs can open the door for new pharmacological innovations to improve implant success and avoid unnecessary complications, and it is also of special interest because most implant patients are elder adults who are often polymedicated. In this commentary, we discuss the discoveries made by us as well as by other researchers regarding the effect of several drugs on bone, osseointegration, and implant survival. Of particular interest is the growing evidence showing that commonly used drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and proton pump inhibitors could lead to implant failure.