The Application of Local Doxycycline Gel for the Nonsurgical Treatment of Peri-Implant Diseases: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Doxycycline is an antibiotic belonging to the tetracycline family. Although systematic reviews do not recommend the local administration of antibiotics in association with mechanical instrumentation for the treatment of peri-implant diseases, none of these studies refer to the use of locally derived doxycycline. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the efficacy of the local application of doxycycline gel in the treatment of peri-implant diseases. The protocol of the review was submitted in PROSPERO. The manuscript was organized and prepared following the PRISMA guidelines and the systematic review was conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review of Interventions—Second Edition. MEDLINE through OVID interface, EMBASE and Cochrane Central were interrogated for article research. The OpenGrey search engine was used for grey literature. Three articles were included in the review, involving 69 patients and 123 implants. None of these studies reported adverse events or complications during the observation period. In conclusion, the evidence about the local administration of doxycycline is not enough to provide a clinical recommendation; however, the results of the study and the biological plausibility of the potential advantages of the use of such antibiotics for the treatment of peri-implant diseases should stimulate further research.