Abstract
The exponential growth in the use of dental implants in the last decades has been accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of peri-implant disease. It appears that viruses may have pathogenic potential for the development of this pathology. The objective of this systematic review is to study the possible association between the presence of Epstein–Barr virus and the development of peri-implantitis. An electronic search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scielo and Embase databases for cross-sectional and case–control studies in humans published up to and including 4 January 2021. Five studies were included in the qualitative analysis. The meta-analysis did not show a statistically significant difference regarding the prevalence of Epstein–Barr virus in the peri-implant sulcus between implants with peri-implantitis and healthy implants. In conclusion, no association between the human herpesvirus 4 and peri-implantitis was found. Further research on this topic is essential to develop more effective treatments.
Highlights
In the last decades, the use of dental implants has increased significantly, suffering an exponential growth since the first decade of the 21st century [1,2,3]
Besides minor prosthetic complications, which are easy to solve, peri-implantitis is the most frequent complication and its resolution is a real challenge, the reason why so much has been published in recent years on this topic [9]
In the present meta-analysis no statistically significant difference was found regarding the presence of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in the peri-implant sulcus between implants with peri-implantitis and healthy implants
Summary
The use of dental implants has increased significantly, suffering an exponential growth since the first decade of the 21st century [1,2,3]. Besides minor prosthetic complications (such as crown loosening or ceramic chipping), which are easy to solve, peri-implantitis is the most frequent complication and its resolution is a real challenge, the reason why so much has been published in recent years on this topic [9]. This pathology is defined clinically as the presence of signs of bleeding and/or suppuration in the peri-implant tissues on probing, increased probing depth and loss of 2 or more millimetres of marginal bone compared to previous radiographic recordings [7,10]
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