Purpose: A key challenge in implant treatment in the esthetic zone is to provide patients with crowns and peri-implant mucosa that are in harmony with the adjacent teeth to restore both function and esthetics. The aim of the present study was to show the preliminary results of an immediate loading protocol in the maxillary esthetic zone that is designed to preserve the soft tissue.
Materials and methods: Patients were treated with immediately loaded single-tooth implants (Seven, MIS). Implants were inserted in fresh postextraction sites or in single edentulous sites with clinically and radiologically healed bone. After 8 weeks of loading, the provisional crowns and abutments were modified as needed to enhance the esthetics of the gingival margins. Definitive restorations were delivered 4 to 6 months postoperatively.
Results: Seventy patients were treated; 25 implants were placed in fresh extraction sites, and the remaining 45 implants were inserted in healed single edentulous sites. All implants were stable, and radiographs showed complete osseointegration after 1 year of functional loading.
Conclusions: The present study shows promising results for immediate loading of single implants. All implant sites fulfilled success criteria in terms of function and esthetics, and particularly promising results were seen following additional adjustments of the provisional restorations to preserve interdental papillae.