Flapless Dental Implant Surgery for Patients on Oral Anticoagulants—The “WarLess Procedure”: A Report of 2 Cases

Abstract

Patients with prosthetic heart valves are maintained on lifelong oral anticoagulant therapy. The optimal anticoagulant management of such patients during surgical dental procedures has been debated for a long time. Compared with conventional dental implant placement, a minimally invasive flapless approach has the potential to reduce bleeding and minimize surgical time, postoperative pain, soft tissue inflammation, and crestal bone. The purpose of these case reports is to show the clinical predictability of dental implant placement using a minimally invasive flapless approach without reducing the dosage of anticoagulants for patients on lifelong anticoagulant therapy. In this study, a 45-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man who had undergone cardiac surgery and were currently under a full therapeutic level of anticoagulation therapy (warfarin) were treated with flapless dental implant surgery without reducing their anticoagulant dosage. Postoperative clinical and radiographic assessment showed no abnormality, minimal signs of inflammation, and excellent healing. The combination of minimally invasive flapless dental implant surgery with no interruption in the normal dose of the anticoagulant medications could be an improved method for placing dental implants in patients on long-term anticoagulant therapy.