Perioperative management in a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus who presented severe hypoglycemia during dental implant surgery: a case report

BACKGROUND: Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) have poor glycemic control owing to extreme impairments in glucose tolerance. There are few reports regarding dental implant surgery in patients with type 1 DM. We describe herein the perioperative glycemic management in an outpatient with type 1 DM who experienced a rare case of severe hypoglycemia during dental implant surgery. Only one such case has previously been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: A 60-year-old male patient diagnosed with type 1 DM was scheduled for dental implant primary surgery. Premedication with peroral antibiotics was carried out to prevent possible systemic infection as a complication of DM. The patient was treated to control intraoperative hypertension with diligent attention to cardiovascular conditions by using a bolus administration of nicardipine and diltiazem. During surgery, he abruptly complained of hypoglycemic symptoms and had a blood glucose level of 32 mg/dL. Following oral administration and electrolyte-combined infusion of glucose, he immediately recovered from the critical situation. The surgical procedure, involving a lower jaw implant fixture placement, was performed as planned and resulted in less invasion, limited to the area of implant fixture placement within the right mandibular region of the two molars, compared to implant surgery that spans the entire lower jaw. CONCLUSIONS: The present case suggests that it is essential to promptly monitor possible signs of hypoglycemia-precipitated acute symptoms in patients with DM. In addition, it is also necessary to appropriately administer insulin with an electrolyte-combined infusion of glucose for deliberate glycemic control; this is particularly true in patients with type 1 DM undergoing relatively highly-invasive oral surgical manipulation such as commonly performed dental implant surgery spanning the entire jaw.