Immediate Restoration of Single Tapered Implants with Nonoccluding Provisional Crowns: A 5-Year Clinical Prospective Study

Background Dental literature has limited number of publications regarding long‐term outcome data of immediate restoration of single missing teeth with an implant‐supported provisional crown. Purpose This 5‐year study evaluated hard and soft tissue responses to the immediate placement of single implant‐supported provisional crowns. Materials and Methods Twenty patients received one dental implant restored immediately with a provisional acrylic resin screw‐retained crown. Crestal bone loss was evaluated from standardized periapical radiographs collected at 3‐month intervals for the first 21 months followed by a 5‐year evaluation. Historical controls acquired from available dental literature were used for comparison. Results One implant failed within 2 months of surgical placement, presenting with pain and mobility. The remaining implants demonstrated no infection, pain, or radiolucencies. Nineteen implants were clinically immobile, osseointegrated, and asymptomatic at 21 months. At 5 years, one patient died, three patients were noncompliant, and 15 implants were evaluated as functional. Mean bone loss (MBL) at 1 year and 21 months was approximately 0.5 ± 0.5 mm and 0.70 ± 0.26 mm at 5 years. There was no statistically significant difference between MBLs at p