Clinical Evaluation of Papilla Index Around Immediate Implant Placement in Mandibular Molars Using Chairside Customized Healing Abutment Versus Submerged Healing :A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Immediate implant placement in extraction sockets was used to (i) reduce the number of surgical procedures (ii) preserve the dimensions of the alveolar ridge and (iii) reduce the interval between the removal of the tooth and the insertion of the implant supported restoration.

Flapless extraction is a technique aimed towards leaving the periosteum undisturbed by extracting the tooth with minimal trauma using periotomes without flap reflection. They also found less crestal bone loss around immediate implants placed in flapless extraction sockets in compared to implants placed by elevating a flap, due to greater blood supply and less postoperative swelling and pain.

Submerged healing and absence of loading was proposed during the early stage of osseointegration. Such a two-stage approach, based on a period of submerged healing aimed at optimizing the process of new bone formation and remodeling that follows implant placement is considered the gold standard procedure. It requires a second surgery to connect the abutment. This second surgical procedure is generally a minor one; thus, it is not particularly uncomfortable for the patient and offers the possibility to perform soft tissue management procedures around healed implants which may result in a better long-term prognosis. On the other hand, the desire to provide faster and less invasive treatment to patients, as well as to avoid postponing implant load and prosthesis delivery, has led to one-stage surgery (non-submerged healing). In this approach the implant and the healing abutment are placed in a single procedure so it remains exposed in the oral cavity during the osseointegration period.

The provisional restoration or a custom abutment can act as a "prosthetic socket-sealing" to protect, contain and maintain the blood clot and bone-graft material during the healing phase of treatment.

The aim of this randomized clinical trial is to evaluate the clinical and radiographic hard and soft tissue changes using chairside customized healing abutment versus submerged healing following immediate implant placement in mandibular molars.