Dental implant in diabetic patients

Dental implant in diabetic

This article talks about dental implants and its effect on dental patients. This article discusses whether it is possible to have dental implants in diabetic patients. Is it possible to have dental implants in diabetic patients? Before coming to this it is necessary to understand the relationship between diabetes and dental implants and what they actually are.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus, commonly called to diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which blood sugar level are high(Hyperglycaemia). It is caused as a result of defect in secretion of insulin. Diabetes is of two types:

  • Type1: Type1 is an auto-immune disease affecting the beta cell in pancreas that produce insulin, thus making it necessary to use exogenous insulin to prevent or delay the complication of this illness.
  • Type2: Type2 is a multi-factorial disease that depends on age, obesity and sedentary lifestyle. The treatment of this type includes measures relating to their lifestyle.

Dental implants in diabetic patients

Dental implant is a dental surgery where a lost tooth is reconstructed by implanting a small screw like device in the dental root and then placing a dental cap on it. There has been a debate over whether it is possible to have dental implants in diabetic patients.  It is seen that surgical  operations and the use of anaesthesia may cause a neuroendocrine stress response characterise by increased released of counter regulatory hormones. This increases chances of hyperglycaemia which affects kidney, the peripheral nervous system, retina etc. This relates to collegian information causing delays in wound healing.

Why dental implants were considered to create problems for diabetic patients:

  • Implants were considers contradictory in diabetic patients as they could cause problems to diabetic patients.
  • It had been reluctant to place dental implants because of slow healing and high infection rates.
  • It could alter bone formation, increase risk for infections, compromise wound healing, etc.
  • It is less stable in uncontrolled diabetic patients.
  • It affects collagen synthesis thus having alternate effects.
  • It could cause infections and impaired wound healing.

Is it possible for diabetic patients to have dental implants?

In recent years, Dentists have been able to place dental implants in diabetic patients with uncontrolled diabetes. Dr Oates, a professor in the department of Periodontics did a study on this. The study showed there is no association between elevated blood sugar and implant failures. After one year, none of the implants placed in 19 patients failed. The study shows that even if you are diabetic, it does not mean that your transplant would be a failure and contradicts the earlier theories about the safety issues regarding dental implants in diabetic patients.

To understand longer term outcomes, Dr Oates did 234 implants on 117 patients. He divided his patients into three groups. The first group was patients with no diabetic issues. The other group had patients with well controlled diabetes and the third group had patients with uncontrolled diabetes. It was seen that after a year the implant survival rates were not a different story among the three groups thus supporting his studies.

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