Buccal Bone Resorption in Immediate SLActive Implant Placement Thin vs. Thick Buccal Bone

With the increased demand for aesthetics and the expectation of immediate tooth replacement, improving the treatment options in case with hopeless teeth in the esthetic zone by immediate implants is a need by both practitioners and patients.

Current guidelines, today, restricting such treatment to only thick (+ or = 1mm) buccal bone plates. However, the literature shows that less than 10% of the community have such criteria, making it a high risk but needed procedure.

Soft tissue and bone remodelling after extraction is an inescapable fact. Immediate implant placement cannot prevent soft tissue and bone remodeling around implants (Araújo et al. 2005, Chen et al. 2009), but implant surface treatment and modifications might enhance the maintainability of the supporting structures around the dental implant due to its faster integration, better stimulating the vascular components at the site. This could be tested by the crestal and buccal bone changes, pink esthetic score and ostell readings.