Evaluating the efficacy of grafting the facial gap at immediately placed implants in the anterior maxilla: a systematic review and randomized controlled trial
Immediate implant placement is an accepted and widely utilized treatment modality for tooth replacement following extraction. Survival and success are comparable to implant placement in healed ridges. However, the best methods for achieving predictable soft tissue esthetics are still up for debate. Contemporary surgical strategy often leaves a facial gap anterior to the implant, between it and the buccal plate. The ideal management of this gap--with regards to grafting or not--has not been clearly defined. There are two general aims to this thesis: to review immediate implant literature that examines esthetic outcomes based on facial gap grafting status, and to carry out a randomized, controlled trial evaluating whether grafting the facial gap between the implant and buccal bone at the time of immediate implant placement will improve tissue preservation when compared to a no-grafting protocol.Master of Scienc
