Do topical applications of bisphosphonates improve bone formation in oral implantology? A systematic review

BACKGROUND The aim of this systematic literature review was to evaluate the feasibility of topical bisphosphonate application for preserving/enhancing alveolar bone in oral implantology. MATERIAL AND METHODS An electronic search was conducted in the PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of knowledge, and Google-Scholar databases for articles dated from January 2000 to December 2016. Two reviewers assessed the quality of the studies independently. RESULTS A total of 154 abstracts were identified, of which 18 potentially relevant articles were selected; a final total of nine papers were included for analysis. Comparison of the findings of the selected studies was made difficult by the heterogeneity of the articles, all of them animal research papers that showed heterogeneity in the methodologies used and a high or moderate risk of bias. CONCLUSIONS The topical application of bisphosphonate solution would appear to favor new bone formation in alveolar defects, and boosts the regenerative capacities of biomaterials resulting in increased bone density.