The Correlation of Mineral Density of Jaws With Skeletal Bone and Its Effect on Implant Stability in Osteoporotic Patients: A Review of Patient-Based Studies

Abstract

Osteoporosis has been an enigma in terms of the administration of implant therapy. It has been implicated as a cause of implant failure as it directly affects the quality of the bone. The diagnosis of osteoporosis is mainly done by measuring skeletal bone mineral density (BMD). During implant therapy, the BMD of jaws can be evaluated on routine orthopantomogram (OPG) or cone beam CT (CBCT). The various advantages of CBCT include establishing a correlation between skeletal bone density and bone density of jaws and estimating its effect on implant stability in osteoporotic patients, which in turn will help in determining the prognosis of the implant in osteoporotic patients. This review is a summary of all patient-related studies conducted in the mentioned context of implant placement in patients with osteoporosis, treatment modalities, and prognosis. We performed a search of relevant articles on Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane, which yielded a total of 25 articles for full-text reviews. After excluding some articles based on the exclusion criteria, a review was conducted along with a pilot study on implant placement in osteoporotic patients. Regional bone density can be a helpful parameter in predicting primary implant stability and it can be a useful indicator of skeletal BMD. With a careful evaluation of BMD, dental implants can be placed in patients with osteoporosis with a better prognosis for the treatment.