Is Low Serum Vitamin D Associated with Early Dental Implant Failure? A Retrospective Evaluation on 1625 Implants Placed in 822 Patients

Abstract EN

Aim.

To investigate whether there is a correlation between early dental implant failure and low serum levels of vitamin D.

Methods.

All patients treated with dental implants in a single centre, in the period 2003–2015, were considered for enrollment in this study.

The main outcome was early implant failure.

The influence of patient-related variables on implant survival was calculated using the Chi-square test.

Results.

822 patients treated with 1625 implants were selected for this study; 27 early failures (3.2%) were recorded.

There was no link between gender, age, smoking, history of periodontitis, and an increased incidence of early failures.

Statistical analysis reported 9 early failures (2.2%) in patients with serum levels of vitamin D > 30 ng/mL, 16 early failures (3.9%) in patients with levels between 10 and 30 ng/mL, and 2 early failures (9.0%) in patients with levels <10 ng/mL.

Although there was an increasing trend in the incidence of early implant failures with the worsening of vitamin D deficiency, the difference between these 3 groups was not statistically significant ( P = 0.15 ).

Conclusions.

This study failed in proving an effective link between low serum levels of vitamin D and an increased risk of early implant failure.

Further studies are needed to investigate this topic.