When edentulism is accompanied by an impacted tooth, conventional treatment usually involves traumatic tooth extraction, which would inevitably destroy the surrounding alveolar bone and cause unfavorable aesthetics, especially for anterior teeth. Recently, implant placement through the impacted tooth or residual root has been proposed as an alternative to invasive extraction. A particular type of integration has been observed between dentin/cementum and titanium implant, while enamel-implant contact has not been reported. In this paper, an implant was placed through the impacted maxillary central incisor, thereby avoiding an invasive extraction surgery. The buccal section of the tooth, including crown enamel, was retained in situ for buccal alveolar ridge preservation. The follow-up results were satisfactory, and a stable enamel-implant contact was observed. Combining with previous similar studies, this technique opens intriguing possibilities and brings fresh insight for the concept of dentointegration. More histological and clinical studies with long-term follow-up are warranted before endorsing this technique in routine application.
Keywords: alveolar-ridge preservation; dentointegration; enamel-implant contact; immediate implantation.