Effect of systemic administration of Simvastatin on dental implant stability: A random clinical study

The primary objective for many researches carried out in dental implantology was to reduce the period needed for functional implant loading, simvastatin (cholesterol lowering medication) had many pleiotropic effects, one of which was increasing bone density around titanium implants (1) and subsequently establishing faster osseointegrated dental implants (2,3). This study aims to reduce the period of time needed to establish secondary stability of dental implant measured in ISQ (Implant Stability Quotient) by investigating the effect of orally administered simvastatin on bone. Materials and methods: Simvastatin tablets (40mg/day for three months) were administered orally for 11 healthy women aged (40-51) years old who received 15 dental implants (Dentium, Implantium) in the traumatic functional implant zone(4), this is the intervention group, the control group (n=11) received 14 dental implants in the same zone. 3 dental implants in 2 subjects were lost, leaving a total of 26 dental implants in 20 patients with 10 patients in each group. All subjects were radiographed with OPG for preliminary assessment and with CT scan for registering bone density in Hounsfield Units. Different dental implant sizes were used according to optimal patients' needs. An informed consent was obtained from the intervention group and the recommended monitoring protocol was followed. Dental implant stability ISQ were recorded using RFA by OsstellTM ISQ for both groups three times: immediately after implant placement (at surgery) and after 8,12 weeks respectively. Results: Results showed that the mean implant stability for the intervention group was significantly higher P= 0.01 after 12 weeks in comparison to that of the control group. Simvastatin showed statistically significant effect on implant stability among the intervention group after 8 and 12 weeks (P value for both times <0.001) with the attributed risk percent was 70.8 and 50 respectively. Conclusions: This study concluded that the intervention group had higher implant stability and was ready for functional loading prior to control group and that simvastatin might enhanced and/or accelerated the process of