Risk of bleeding with dental implant surgery in patients on anticoagulant or antiplatelet drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction A large number of patients under oral anticoagulant (OAC) or antiplatelet (AP) therapy require dental implantation. We systematically reviewed evidence on the risk of bleeding after implant placement with continued OAC or AP therapy.Methods PubMed, Embase and CENTRAL were searched for studies comparing bleeding outcomes after implant placement between OAC/AP therapy vs. controls or OAC vs. AP therapy.Results Seven studies were included. Pooled analysis showed no significant difference in the risk of bleeding with continued OAC therapy vs. control (RR 1.81 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70, 4.63 I2 = 14% p = .22). Subgroup analysis depending on the type of OAC showed there was a non-significant tendency of increased risk of bleeding with Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) (RR 3.42 95% CI 1.00, 11.67 I2 = 23% p = .05) but not with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) (RR 1.67 95% CI 0.49, 5.70 I2 = 0% p = .41). Limited data suggest an increased risk of bleeding with OAC as compared to AP (RR 0.08 95% CI 0.01, 0.76 I2 = 0% p = .03).Conclusions Continuation of OAC therapy in patients undergoing implant surgery does not increase the risk of bleeding provided local haemostatic measures are used. The indirect comparison suggests bleeding tendency may be higher with VKAs as compared to DOAC.