Extracorporeal shock wave therapy: a potential adjuvant treatment for peri-implantitis

Dental implants have been widely used clinically in recent decades, but peri-implantitis is still a common complication of dental implants with high incidence, which is greatly harmful to the longevity of the dental implant. The current treatment of peri-implantitis is limited and it is hard to achieve optimal re-osseointegration. A new therapy with multi-bioactivities is hoped to solve this problem. There are abundant evidences showing that extracorporeal shock wave therapy has favorable effects on treating delayed union and nonunion of fracture, promoting fracture healing, and inducing bone regeneration. Studies indicated that extracorporeal shock waves may activate osteoblasts and their precursors, and has a bactericidal effect on several oral pathogens. The hypothesis we proposed herein is that extracorporeal shock wave therapy may be an adjuvant treatment for peri-implantitis by controlling infection, inducing alveolar bone regeneration and promoting re-osseointegration.