Improvements in Social Quality of Life for Recovering Addicts Receiving Dental Implant Rehabilitation.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are associated with severe oral deterioration, chronic systemic inflammation, and elevated depression risk, yet definitive dental rehabilitation is rarely integrated into long-term recovery care. This IRB-approved retrospective cohort study evaluated the effect of full-arch implant rehabilitation on depressive symptoms in 101 consecutively treated adults with verified long-term recovery from SUDs. Patients completed a modified PHQ-9 at baseline and again at final prosthesis delivery. Mean scores decreased from 24.16 preoperatively to 0.75 postoperatively, an 86.7% improvement, and all 101 patients reported better scores. Preoperatively, 80% (N=81) met the severe depression threshold (≥20); postoperatively, 92% (N=93) fell within the minimal-to-no depression range (0-4). These gains far exceed conventional thresholds for clinically meaningful change and are consistent with evidence linking resolution of oral inflammation to reduced systemic inflammatory burden and depression. These findings support full-arch implant rehabilitation in stabilized recovery populations as a scalable, high-value biopsychosocial component of comprehensive SUD care, rather than an elective procedure.