ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII “DUNĂREA DE JOS” GALAŢI MEDICINĂ FASCICULA XVII, nr. 2, 2013 117 ORIGINAL STUDY OSTEOINTEGRATION OF DENTAL IMPLANTS A CHANCE FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS - SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE - Christian Marmandiu 1 , Christos Giannarachis 1 , Vlad Gabriel 1 Vasilescu 1 ,Ion Patrascu 1 , Elisabeta Vasilescu 2 1 University of Medicine and Pharmacy „Carol Davila” Bucharest, Romania 2 University „Dunarea de Jos” of Galati, Romania elisabeta.vasilescu@yahoo.com ABSTRACT In the mouth, diabetes is responsible for delayed wound healing, increased alveolar bone resorption, a risk of up to 3.4 higher than non-diabetics to develop periodontal disease, an increase in inflammatory tissue destruction and predisposition to infection. For all these reasons, diabetes was considered a contraindication to insertion of dental implants. However, there are experimental studies and clinical observations showing that the survival rate of dental implants is approximately 90%, approaching that of non-diabetic patients. It is also shown that these results are strictly correlated with the importance of glycemic control to provide predictability of success rates and improve osseointegration of the implants inserted The aim of this study was to synthesize the literature reviews on the osseointegration of implants in diabetic patients, to evaluate the available clinical results on complications such as wound healing, the peri- implantites, prognosis and survival of implants, and in conjunction with our clinical observations, to formulate recommendations for clinical use of implants in diabetes. KEYWORDS: diabetes, alveolar bone resorption, dental implants. 1. Introduction Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia with impaired glucose metabolism as the main symptom. Hyperglycemia can result from a deficiency in insulin secretion, insulin resistance, or a combination of both. The most common pathogenic types of diabetes are : insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus type 1 and non-insulin dependent type 2. According to current epidemiological studies (U.S.) approx. 5% of the population is affected by diabetes. Of these, most patients are type 2 diabetics (> 90%) and about 5% are type 1 diabetics. Balsham et al in 1999 and Powers in 2005 stated that among patients aged over 65 years, approximately 18.4% and 20.1% had various forms of diabetes. Fiorellini et al in 2000 stated that diabetes affects bone and mineral metabolism, damaging osseointegration of dental implants. In several experimental studies on diabetic patients to whom dental implants were inserted, the glycemic control was provided to offer predictability