Implantes dentais em pacientes com diabetes mellitus

Dental implants represent a great improvement in Dentistry in respect to rehabilitation of edentulous ridges due to the functional and aesthetic reestablishment with long-term predictability and success. However, the effectiveness of this treatment relies on successful osseointegration during the healing period. In this way, the applicability of dental implants in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) remains controversial, by the fact that the hyperglycemic status presents a negative effect on the osseointegration. It is not clear yet if the therapy with dental implants is an absolute contraindication to these patients. For this reason, the aim of the present study is to review the literature about the treatment with dental implants in patients with diabetes and to propose a protocol to perform dental implants in patients with diabetes. Diabetes has been considered a relative contraindication to dental implants, as the patients with adequate metabolic control can be treated with this kind of therapy, because inadequate metabolic control can lead to the failure of the treatment. Besides, there are risk factors for the diabetic implant patient that may decrease the success rates of dental implants therapy. In this way, the dentist should understand all the relevant implications before considering the indication of dental implants to patients with diabetes. It is important to have more controlled studies to evaluate the effects of diabetes on the implant-tissue interface and further investigations are necessary in order to elucidate the role of insulin and molecular mechanisms that might interfere on the osseointegration in patients with diabetes.