Soft and Hard Tissue Changes After Immediate Single-tooth Replacement With or Without a Submarginal Connective Tissue Graft

All participants will be selected on a consecutive basis, among individuals, above the age of 18 years, referred to Dental Clinic of the San Raffaele University, with a single failing tooth in the upper and lower jaw from second premolar to second premolar, candidates for a single implant restoration. After local anesthesia, a split-full-split thickness envelope flap, as described for the treatment of multiple gingival recessions by Zucchelli and de Sanctis (2000), will be elevated and the tooth will be extracted a-traumatically. The immediate implantation procedure will be carried out according to the manufacture protocol and 1mm of the transmucosal portion of the implant will be positioned under the buccal bone crest. In the group "Implant+CTG" a connective tissue graft (CTG), resulting from the extraoral de-epithelialization with the knife blade of a free gingival graft harvested from the palate, will be anchored at the anatomic papillae with 2 horizontal mattress sutures and positioned 1 mm coronal to the buccal bone crest and in the apical direction 2 mm above the buccal crest. Patients will be followed for 6 months after implant placement and 6 months after loading.