Immediately placed single implants in the maxillary anterior zone: 5-year clinical study

Abstract

Single implant crowns have become a popular treatment modality to replace a missing natural tooth. They have an excellent long-term success rate, especially when supported with a conventional placement and loading protocol. However, with increasing demand of patients wanting a reduced turnaround time with an aesthetically pleasing outcome, there has been a push for shorter healing and rehabilitation period so that the patients can return to function quicker.

Immediate implant placement and restoration may be able to address this demand especially when the treatment involves the maxillary anterior zone. However, the anatomical morphology of a fresh extraction socket is often unfavourable especially when planning for a screw-retained implant prosthesis. A novel design of a 12°-platform implant has the advantage of achieving the necessary primary stability, especially when it is placed in a fresh extraction socket, the reconfigured platform angle allows the screw access to be oriented appropriately. However, there are only two clinical studies about this technique and they report up to 1-year follow-up data. Hence there is a demand for information about more long-term clinical outcomes.

Zirconia implant abutments have also become very popular particularly for those clinicians and patients who would like to pursue “metal-free” dentistry. While zirconia has proven to be a strong material suitable for implant prostheses, there is a significant lack of clinical data on the effect of low-temperature degradation especially in relation to any post-sintering adjustment. Therefore, it is the aim of this project addresses this research question.