Introduction: Significant alveolar bone resorption follows tooth extraction. Immediate implant placement alone is not sufficient to prevent this phenomenon.
Case presentation: In this clinical case, a fractured upper first premolar was replaced by an immediate implant and a customized healing abutment designed on the perimeter of the extractive alveolus. After 3 months, the implant was restored. The facial and interdental soft tissue was maintained with appreciable success after 5 years. The pre- and 5-year-post-treatment CT scans showed no bone loss.
Conclusion: The use of an interim customized healing abutment helps preventing hard and soft tissues collapse. This technique is very straightforward and might represent a smart preservation strategy when there is no indication for adjunctive hard or soft tissue grafting.
Keywords: connective tissue biology; fibroblast(s); implantology; ridge preservation; wound healing.