Dental implants in growing patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Dental implants provide a suitable and reliable treatment for the replacement of missing teeth. Very few studies have been reported in the literature regarding the application of dental implants in growing and developing patients.

Objective: This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to systematically review the available literature regarding the application of dental implants in growing and developing patients.

Methods: A detailed search in the literature was performed with the help of keywords such as dental implants, treatment planning, children, adolescents, growing patients, and developing jaws. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and Ovidsp databases were searched for papers published between 1980 and 2021. The papers focused on children, adolescents, developing jaws, and implants. In this systemic review, the dataset concerned with the type of study, aim, number of patients and specimens included, age of patients, total number of implants placed, total number of implants evaluated, medical history of developmental disorders of teeth such as ectodermal dysplasia, congenital absence of teeth, were evaluated.

Results: Out of the total literature searched, 33.45% of studies and case reports documented no complications in any implant treatment. In 47.21% of studies and case reports, there was both success and failure of implants while in 13.21% of studies and case reports there was a complete failure of implants. The most common cause for loss of permanent teeth in growing children and adolescent patients was dental trauma (73.13%) followed by congenital developmental disturbance of teeth (18.19%).

Conclusion: It can be concluded from this systematic review that the use of implants in edentulous growing patients is determined by several parameters, including the patient's overall health, the stage of jaw growth, the number of teeth to be replaced, and soft and hard tissue anatomic features. Still, the use of a conservative treatment strategy for missing teeth management in patients with developing jaws is common and recommended until the patient's growth is completed, as there are chances of changes in the position of dental implants placed in the developing and growing jaws due to the continuous changes taking place in their body. However, placement of implants can be done in these patients successfully with proper treatment planning and taking into account the phase of growth with proper follow-up.