The relationship between matrix metalloproteinases-8 and -implantitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Peri-implantitis diagnosis typically involves evaluating inflammation, pocket depth, bleeding, and bone loss around dental implants. Although these methods are reliable and convenient, they mainly determine the history of the disease instead of the current activity or disease susceptibility. This -analysis evaluates whether the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8 level in the -implant crevicular fluids (PICF) can be associated with -implantitis.

Methods: The research was conducted in February 2022, where three electronic databases were searched and complemented with a manual search. The search criteria included original cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that compared MMP-8 biomarkers in crevicular fluids around healthy implants with unhealthy implants (-implantitis). To assess the risk of bias, the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Scale was used. The data was analyzed using the RevMan program, and the standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval was applied to evaluate the MMP-8 levels, with a significance level of p less than 0.05.

Results: Out of 1978 studies, six were eligible. This -analysis included 276 patients divided into two groups; 121 patients (124 implants) in the -implantitis group and 155 patients (156 implants) in the health implants group. The quality of the included studies was evaluated as high to moderate. The -analysis showed a significant increase in MMP-8 levels in individuals with -implantitis compared to those with healthy implants (SMD = 1.43, 95% CI [0.19, 2.68],  = 0.02).

Conclusion: The current -analysis found that the levels of MMP-8 in PICF were significantly elevated in -implantitis cases compared to healthy controls, indicating a potential link between MMP-8 and -implantitis. However, the -analysis does not provide evidence for MMP-8 as a diagnostic test for -implantitis. Further research, specifically diagnostic accuracy studies, is needed to establish the value of MMP-8 as a diagnostic tool for -implantitis.