Bisphosphonates: case report of nonsurgical periodontal therapy and osteochemonecrosis

The risk of developing osteochemonecrosis is increased in patients who are taking bisphosphonate drugs and must undergo extractions or other dental surgery. Because of the difficulty in predicting and preventing osteochemonecrosis and in managing patients after it has occurred, avoidance of surgery has been advised. This paper reports on the development of this complication in a patient who received nonsurgical periodontal treatment. Although it is believed that the risk of developing this severely debilitating complication is low when treating patients nonsurgically, practitioners must be able to recognize and understand the presentation and difficulties in managing osteochemonecrosis, even when only nonsurgical therapy is performed.