Purpose: One of the suggested methods for enhancing osseointegration is the local application of drug agents around implant surfaces. The aim of this review was to evaluate the methods most commonly used for local drug and chemical compound delivery to implant sites and assess their influence on osseointegration.
Materials and methods: An electronic search was undertaken in three databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase). The search was limited to animal experiments using endosseous implants combined with local drug delivery systems. Meta-analyses were performed for the outcome bone-to-implant contact (BIC).
Results: Sixty-one studies met the inclusion criteria. Calcium phosphate (CaP), bisphosphonates (BPs), and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) were the most commonly used chemical compounds. There were two main methods for local drug delivery at the bone-implant interface: (1) directly from an implant surface by coating or immobilizing techniques, and (2) the local application of drugs to the implant site, using carriers. There was a statistically significant increase in BIC for both local drug delivery methods (P = .02 and P < .0001, respectively) compared with the control methods. There was a statistically significant increase in BIC when CaP (P = .0001) and BMPs (P = .02) were either coating implants or were delivered to the implant site, in comparison to when drugs were not used. The difference was not significant for the use of BPs (P = .15).
Conclusion: It is suggested that the use of local chemical compound delivery systems around implants could significantly improve implant osseointegration in animal models. It is a matter of debate whether these in vivo results might have some significant effect in the human clinical setting in the long term.