BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Trigeminal sensitivity changes may lead to neuropathic pain after surgical handling. These complaints generate questions. First: are they real? Because a causal relationship between implant and nerve is not always present. Second: should the implant be removed? This study aimed at reviewing the literature on the subject. CONTENTS: The literature is prodigal on information about loss of implants related to osteointegration, but there are few studies on losses related to nerve loss or to neuropathic pain. The risk for implants longevity is multifactorial. Contributors are: patients' health, surgical technique, receptor region and functional activation, among other factors. Pain is a complication with significant clinical, psychological, social and legal implications, requiring special attention to patients, very often prolonged or permanent. Currently, specialized literature is already voluminous about the prevalence of sensory abnormalities and nervous injury after dental procedures. Together, these pieces of information suggest an approach including detailed exams, interconsultations and the adoption of preventive, curative or palliative measures to treat pain. Implant removal depends on this analysis and it is not always a simple decision. CONCLUSION: Information about dental implants removal due to pain or nervous injury is scarce and not always homogeneous, however it already calls the attention to the fact that such decision is not always simple. It depends on the adoption of diagnostic measures, some of them specialized, including image exams. Early diagnosis and treatment of nervous injury and neuropathic pain are beneficial to patients and have major ethic and legal implications.
Neuropathic pain; Orofacial pain; Osteointegration; Postoperative pain
