A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen on Osseointegration of Root-form Endosseous Titanium Dental Implants: An In Vivo Study.

AIM: To evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on the osseointegration of dental implants by resonance frequency analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six rabbits of age 2 to 2 and 1/2 years, weight approximately 2 kg were selected and tagged 1-6. For all the animals' right femur was selected as a control group (R) and left femur as test group (L). Initially, implants of dimensions 3.75x8mm (Adin Touareg) were placed in the right femur. Implant stability quotient (ISQ) values were recorded using OSSTELL ISQ at the time of surgery (R(0)), after one month (R(1)), and the end of the second month (R(2)). After two months of uneventful healing, implants were placed on the left femur of all the six rabbits and three were grouped as 2S (subjected to 2 HBO sessions at the weekly interval) and other three as 4S (subjected to 4 HBO sessions at weekly interval for a month). At the time of surgery (L(0)), end of one month (L(1)) and two months (L(2)), ISQ values were recorded and subjected to statistical analysis. The total duration of the study was 4 months from 3 March 2013 to 03 July 2013. RESULTS: The data were statistically analyzed using t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) F. On the comparison between the control group (R) and test groups (2S and 4S) ISQ values for test groups were more which was highly statistically significant (p <0.001). Among the two test groups 4S group has more ISQ values compared to 2S (p <0.001). CONCLUSION: This study indicated that HBO therapy has a promotive effect on the rate of osseointegration of dental implants. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Study opens new scope for further in vivo research in utilizing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in implant surgeries, maxillofacial trauma cases and irradiated patients to hasten or improve osseointegration.