Relationship between Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and Risk of Dental Implant Failure

To identify associations between implant failure and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication use in a cohort of consecutive patients receiving dental implants during a 20-year period.

A retrospective review was conducted of all patients who received at least 1 dental implant from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2014, assessing their history of SSRI use, active SSRI use, and SSRI use during follow-up with implant failure. Cox proportional hazards regression models assessed associations between demographic characteristics and SSRI use with implant failure, and outcomes were summarized with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Follow-up SSRI use was analyzed with time-dependent covariates.

During the study period, 5456 patients received their first implant (median age, 53 years). The median duration of follow-up was 5.3 years (interquartile range, 2.3-10.2 years) for the 4927 patients who did not have implant failure. For the 529 patients who had implant failure, it occurred at a median of 0.5 years. After adjusting for age, sex, and era of implant, history of use of the SSRI sertraline was associated with an increased risk of implant failure among all patients (hazard ratio [HR], 1.60; 95% CI, 1.15-2.23; p = 0.006) and among the subset of patients with a history of SSRI use (HR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.07-2.52; p = 0.02).

In the population reviewed, a history of sertraline use was associated with a 60% greater risk of implant failure; however, active SSRI use at the time of implant placement or during follow-up was not significantly associated with an increased risk of implant failure.