Abstract:

Dental implants offer one way to replace missing teeth. Patients who have undergone radiotherapy and those that have also undergone surgery for cancer in the head and neck region may benefit particularly from reconstruction with implants. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has been advocated to improve the success of implant treatment in patients who have undergone radiotherapy but this remains a controversial issue. To compare success, morbidity, patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness of dental implant treatment carried out with and without HBO in irradiated patients. We searched the Cochrane Oral Health Group’s Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and EMBASE. Handsearching included several dental journals. We checked the bibliographies of relevant clinical trials and review articles for studies outside the handsearched journals. We wrote to authors of the identified randomised controlled trials (RCTs), to more than 55 oral implant manufacturers; we used personal contacts and we asked on an internet discussion group in an attempt to identify unpublished or ongoing RCTs. No language restriction was applied. The last electronic search was conducted on 13 June 2007. Randomised controlled trials of HBO therapy for irradiated patients requiring dental implants.

Esposito, Grusovin, Patel, Worthington, Coulthard, , , , (2008). Interventions for replacing missing teeth: hyperbaric oxygen therapy for irradiated patients who require dental implants. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2008 Jan;(1):CD003603. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18254025