Objectives

Osseoperception is defined as the ability to perceive tactile sensation via mechanoreception in the peri-implant environment. The objective was to systematically review the available literature on the osseoperception phenomenon following dental implant placement and to explore potential factors which might improve the perception capacity.

Material and methods

A literature search was performed using PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science databases up to June 2021. Both human and animal studies assessing sensory capacity or innervation following implant placement were included in this review. Two reviewers independently performed the study selection, data extraction and quality assessment of the included studies. The methodological quality of the included papers was assessed using Cochrane risk of bias for human studies and SYRCLE’s risk of bias tool for animal studies.

Results

The electronic search of databases yielded 1667 results. Following removal of duplicates, title and abstract screening and full-text reading, 22 publications were eligible to be included in the review. Psychophysical evidence from 14 studies indicated a lower tactile function of implants, where active and passive threshold level were found to be 5 and 50 times higher for implants compared to natural teeth, respectively. The neurophysiological evidence from 3 studies indicated cortical plasticity following dental implant placement, measured via trigeminal nerve evoked potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Histological evidence from 5 studies demonstrated the presence of myelinated nerve fibres in the peri-implant tissues. Additionally, immediate implant placement and loading showed beneficial effect on peri-implant tissue (re)innervation, however, no other biological or physiological factors could be identified influencing osseoperception.

Conclusions

The reported evidence supported the existence of so-called osseoperception phenomenon for restoring the sensory feedback pathway following oral implant rehabilitation. Further studies are required to identify factors that might further assist physiological integration of the oral implants in the human body as such to approach natural oral function.