Distribution of medical status and medications in elderly patients treated with dental implant surgery covered by national healthcare insurance in Korea

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of systemic diseases and medications in patients older than 65 years of age who visited the hospital for implant treatment, as well as to investigate basic information about surgical complications that may occur after insured implant treatment.MethodsA total of 126 patients over 65 years of age were treated for implant surgery from October 1, 2013 to October 30, 2016. Electronic chart review was conducted to obtain medical records, which included sex, age, systemic diseases, medication(s) being taken, and control of the medications. Five patients were excluded due to lack of medical records giving information about systemic disease.ResultsOf the 126 patients, 112 (88.9%) were taking medication due to systemic disease and 9 patients (7.1%) were not. The sex distribution was 71 women and 55 men and the highest proportion of patients were between 65 and 69 years old. The most common diseases were, from most to least frequent, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. The drug groups that can cause major complications after dental treatment were classified as hemorrhagic, osteoporotic, and immunosuppressive agents, and were taken by 45 (35.7%), 22 (17.5%) and 4 (3.2%) patients, respectively.ConclusionGiven that 88.9% of the elderly patients who were eligible for insurance implant treatment had systemic disease, it is necessary to carefully evaluate patients' medical histories and their general conditions in order to prevent emergencies during implant surgery.

Income or education, which has a stronger association with dental implant use in elderly people in Japan?

“…In Sweden, there is equal reimbursement for removable and fixed implant prostheses exists, with a predominance of fixed implant supported prostheses over removable implant supported prostheses. Additionally, in Korea, the health insurance system reimburses the costs of two implants throughout the patient's lifetime for those aged 65 years and older.…”

Dental implant procedures in immunosuppressed organ transplant patients: a systematic review

“…No unpublished or ongoing studies were identified. From the 28 articles selected for full-text review, seven were excluded because they described animal studies [11][12][13][14][15]19,20 , five articles represented reviews [21][22][23][24][25] , one article did not deal with solid organ transplantation but with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation 26 , four articles did not have a follow-up of 6 months for the implants placed or did not include sufficient data [27][28][29][30] , and one article described implant placement before solid organ transplantation 31 . In total, 10 studies were included in the review [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] .…”

Comparing factors affecting dental‐implant loss between age groups: A retrospective cohort study

“…As the proportion of aged individuals relative to the total population continues to increase, the problem of tooth loss and the demand for rehabilitation is also expected to increase proportionately 3 . In 2014, the national healthcare insurance policy of South Korea included implant treatment for those aged older than 75 years; however, in 2017, the minimum eligible age was reduced to 65 years and two implants per patient were allowed 4 . Consequently, Korea witnessed a considerable increase in the treatment of tooth loss using dental implants in 2018 5 .…”