Background: Esthetic outcome associated with dental implant in type 2 diabetic patients remained uninvestigated.
Purpose: To study the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on clinical and esthetic outcomes of single-tooth implant following delayed implant installation in the anterior maxilla.
Materials and Methods: Forty patients were recruited for this investigation. Half of patients were previously diagnosed with controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (group D) and the remaining (n=20) were healthy individuals (group H). All implants were inserted in the anterior part of the maxilla either with sufficient bone volume /or with labial bone defect. Evaluations of soft and hard-tissue changes were checked during the follow-up period up to 24 months.
Results: Significant loss in marginal osseous tissue was observed during 24 months of evaluation with respect to diabetic (p=.001) regardless the bone augmentation procedure used, while group H showed significant loss at 6 months of evaluation followed by non-significant changes of the marginal bone level till 24 months. Mean PES and WES scores did not diverge significantly among groups D and H (p>.05).
Conclusions: Single tooth dental implants can remain functionally and esthetically acceptable in type 2 diabetic patients in a manner similar to healthy patients provided carful controlling and maintaining of blood glycemic level.