GAP Australasian-Dentist-May June 2019

Category 70 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist 5. Conclusions until now, very few studies, and those mainly on animal models, have involved assessing the influence of blood levels of vitamin D levels on the osseointegration of dental implants. Although most of these studies have shown that the administration of vitamin D can improve the healing of the peri-implant bone tissue, it is not yet clear whether vitamin D supplements can promote the osseointegration of dental implants. Our retrospective clinical study aimed to investigate if there is a link between low levels of vitamin D in the blood and an increased risk of early implant failures. Although the incidence of early implant failures was higher in patients with low serum levels of vitamin D, our study failed in proving an effective link between low levels of vitamin D in the blood and an increased risk of early implant failure. Further higher level studies (prospective controlled trials or, even better, randomized controlled clinical trials) with a more rigorous statistical analysis are therefore needed to investigate this issue. if an association between low serum levels of vitamin D and higher risk of early implant failure could be demonstrated, the clinician could give a set dose of vitamin D in the weeks before surgery, in order to normalize serum levels and obtain a positive effect on the healing process. Competing Interests the authors declare no conflict of interests for the present study. Acknowledgments the authors are grateful to Giovanni Veronesi, Ph.D., Department of Biostatistics, university of Varese, italy, for help with writing this manuscript. u References available – email: gapmagazines@optusnet.com.au to receive more than 1 implant, their risk of being classified as “failures” may increase. However, no patient in this study experienced more than 1 failure, and the probability of implant failure was not higher (1.5% versus 2.1%) in presence of another implant. therefore, randomized, controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the presence of an association between low serum levels of vitamin D and an increase in the incidence of early failure in implantology. it would be appropriate to assess whether supplementation of vitamin D in the weeks before the operation could lead to a reduction in early failures, whether due to lack of osseointegration or implant infection. Further scientific studies with an appropriate design and a more rigorous statistical analysis will therefore be required in order to thoroughly investigate this issue. lInICal Table 2: Details of all early implant failures.