Background: Several clinical trials have recently been conducted to elucidate the effectiveness of photofunctionalization. The aim of this review was to systematically analyze the clinical effects of photofunctionalization on implant stability and marginal bone loss (MBL).
Methods: An electronic search in four databases and a manual search were conducted in September 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), clinical controlled trials (CCTs), and cohort and case-control studies evaluating the effects of photofunctionalization on implant stability or marginal bone loss (MBL) in humans were included. The methodological quality assessment using RoB 2.0 and the ROBINS-I tool was performed based on different study designs.
Results: Seven studies were included for a qualitative analysis, and five of them were chosen for a meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that photofunctionalization significantly improved the stability of the implant 2 months after implantation (p = 0.04; MD = 3.48; 95% CI = -0.23 to 6.73) and increased the osseointegration speed index (OSI) (p = 0.007; MD = 2.13; 95% CI = 0.57 to 3.68). However, no significant improvements of implant stability were observed 2 weeks (p = 0.62), 4 weeks (p = 0.31), nor 4 months (p = 0.24) after implantation. The evaluation presented no significant reductions in MBL.
Conclusions: Based on the positive effect of photofunctionalization on the rate of establishing implant stability, photofunctionalization may provide an effective and practical strategy to achieve faster osseointegration and reduce the overall healing time. Photofunctionalization appears to improve the implant stability. However, the clinical effect of photofunctionalization on MBL remains unclear due to the shortage of available studies.
Keywords: dental implant; implant stability; marginal bone loss; osseointegration; photofunctionalization.