Dr. Paul Fugazotto, a well known and respected periodontist in private practice, recently published a study from his own office. He examined whether implants placed in infected areas have higher failure rates than implants placed in pristine bone. This question is often asked by patients when a dental implant is proposed to be placed at the same time when an infected tooth is extracted.
Tha paper discusses the results based on 64 patients with an average period of impkant function of 62 months. The results clearly show that there is no difference. In other words, it is safe to place dental implants in infected sites at the same time as extracting the tooth. Obviously, proper surgical technique is necessary, including thoroughly cleaning out the infected area and removing all infected tissues.
This study confirms my experience with this issue in over 20 years of placing dental implants.
For those wishing to read the actual publication, the following is the reference: J Periodontol 2012;83:182-186.
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