Dental implants in solid organ transplant recipients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

It remains to be determined whether dental implantation treatment in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients and non-organ transplant patients yields similar clinical outcomes. This review summarizes related data for existing cases and presents a meta-analysis of the outcomes of dental implants in SOT recipients and non-organ transplant patients.

An electronic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases covering articles published from inception to December 2024. This study was performed in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and was designed based on the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome and Study design (PICOS) framework. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist or the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The certainty of findings was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Meta-analysis was performed using a fixed effects model to estimate the combined performance measures and 95 % confidence intervals for the implant survival rate, marginal bone loss (MBL), and probing depth (PD).

A total of 12 articles were included in the systematic review. The implant survival rate of 290 implants in 110 SOT recipients was 99.3 %. The meta-analysis of four case-control studies revealed no significant differences in the implant survival rate and PD between SOT recipients and non-organ transplant patients (P = 0.45 and P = 0.49, respectively), while there was slightly less MBL in SOT recipients (P = 0.02), possibly caused by confounding factors and bias.

Organ transplantation does not impair implant survival in the short and mid-long term. Dental implantation can serve as a treatment option for tooth loss in SOT recipients.