Vitamin D & Implant Failures: The Hidden Variable Surgeons Ignore

Are your “mystery” implant failures truly random—or are you placing implants into vitamin D deficiency?

This video breaks down the emerging connection between low serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, early implant loss, and delayed or incomplete graft healing. No hype—just human evidence, animal data, and the biologic mechanisms implant surgeons actually need to understand. You’ll also get a simple, repeatable workflow you can plug straight into your surgical assessment.

What you’ll learn:
• Why multiple human studies show higher early failure rates in vitamin-D-deficient patients
• How vitamin D drives macrophage behaviour, LL-37 expression, angiogenesis, and bone remodelling during osseointegration
• What animal models reveal about graft healing under deficient vs adequate vitamin D levels
• Practical serum cut-offs for deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency in a surgical setting
• A step-by-step protocol to screen, correct, and maintain vitamin D in high-risk implant and grafting patients
• Why sunlight is unreliable in the UK and cannot be treated as a clinical protocol

Clinical takeaway:
Vitamin D won’t fix poor surgery—but deficiency is a modifiable systemic risk that directly affects the biology your implants rely on. Build it into your assessment. Stop leaving it to chance.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:22 Human Evidence - a signal you can't ignore
02;28 The Biology - why deficiency hurts osseointegration
04:23 The Grafting Angle - where it really shows
05:34 Thresholds - general health vs surgical reality
06:59 Practical Workflow - how to build this into your system
08:40 Sunlight - the biological ceiling
09:35 Hype VS Reality


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#DentalImplants
#ImplantDentistry
#OralSurgery
#ImplantSurgery
#Osseointegration
#BoneHealing
#BoneGrafting
#DentalGrafting
#ImplantComplications
#PeriImplantitis
#Implantology
#DentalEducation
#DentalCPD
#ImplantTraining
#RegenerativeDentistry
#Osteoimmunology
#DentalResearch
#OralImplants

REFERENCES:
Implant / graft / clinical evidence
1. Mangano FG, et al. Low serum vitamin D and early dental implant failure: retrospective study of 1740 implants. J Dent Res Dent Clin Dent Prospects. 2018;12(3):174–82.
2. Fretwurst T, et al. Vitamin D deficiency in early implant failure: two case reports. Int J Implant Dent. 2016;2:24.
3. Buzatu BLR, et al. Impact of vitamin D on osseointegration: systematic review. Nutrients. 2024;16(2):209.
4. Werny JG, et al. Does vitamin D affect osseointegration? Systematic review. Int J Implant Dent. 2022;8(1):16.
5. Tallon E, et al. Vitamin D, bone metabolism, and implant failure: umbrella review. Healthcare (Basel). 2024;12:1867.
6. Low Serum Vitamin D and Early Dental Implant Failure: systematic review. Cureus. 2022;14(1):eXXXX.
7. Iqbal A, et al. Effect of vitamin D on implant osseointegration. Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll. 2024;XX(X):XX–XX.
8. Diachkova E, et al. Vitamin D3 and osseointegration: rabbit model. J Orthop Res. 2024;42(2):XX–XX.
9. Diachkova E, et al. Implant rehabilitation in patients with vitamin D imbalance: RCT. Appl Sci. 2025;15(17):9490.
10. Hacibektasoglu MS, et al. Systemic vitamin D and graft healing: experimental histology. Appl Sci. 2024;14(2):939.

Vitamin D biology, immune modulation, LL-37
11. Ao T, Kikuta J, Ishii M. Vitamin D effects on immune regulation and inflammation. Biomolecules. 2021;11(11):1624.
12. Wasnik S, et al. Active vitamin D suppresses M1 and promotes M2 macrophages at bone injury sites. JCI Insight. 2018;3(23):e98773.
13. Vaccaro JA, et al. Cathelicidin mediates the anti-inflammatory effects of vitamin D. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022;12:875772.
14. Khurshid Z, et al. Role of antimicrobial peptides in oral health. Biomolecules. 2017;7(4):80.

Guidelines and thresholds
15. Holick MF, et al. Evaluation and treatment of vitamin D deficiency: Endocrine Society guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;96(7):1911–30.
16. Demay MB, et al. Vitamin D for disease prevention: Endocrine Society guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2024;109(8):1907–47.
17. SACN. Vitamin D and health. Public Health England; 2016.
18. NHS. Vitamin D: recommended intake. Updated 2024.