The effect of growth factors on the osseointegration of dental implants

Tese de mestrado, Medicina Dentária, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina Dentária, 2017Introduction: Dental implants have been an option of treatment commonly used in dentistry. Osseointegration is a measure of implant stability and can be enhanced by increasing the contact of bone to implant. Many strategies such as osteogenic coatings with growth factors have been studied in order to achieve it. Objective: To evaluate the effect of growth factors coating dental implants on the osseointegration. Methods: An electronic search was conducted in three databases such as PubMed, Evidence Based-Dentistry and Cochrane Library with the keywords “growth factors AND osseointegration AND dental implants”, “bone morphogenetic protein AND osseointegration AND dental implants”, “platelet derived growth factor AND osseointegration AND dental implants”, during November 2016 and May 2017. There were included in vivo studies that evaluated the effect of growth factor coated implants on maxillae or mandibular bone. Articles were limited to those published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Results: Nine animal studies were analysed according to their results and surface modification. Five articles revealed a positive effect on the osseointegration, as the values obtained were higher when compared to uncoated groups. The lack of standardization makes the comparison of studies and their analysis difficult and therefore it is not possible to conclude the real action of these proteins on the formation of bone. Conclusions: New therapies have been developed to increase the contact between bone and implant and its stability by altering their surfaces. Implants coated with growth factors seem to be a promising alternative to increase the rate of long term successful implant surgeries and needs to be assessed in order to become an available option for future treatments. It is crucial the creation of prospective studies to extrapolate these results to a human model