Bone assessment around the delayed dental implant with and without preformed anatomical caps: a 1-year retrospective case-control study

To investigate the amount of first-year peri-implant bone loss and the development of the papillae when delayed dental implants loaded with anatomic cover screw and those underwent conventional healing protocol were compared. Edentulous healed sites had undergone delayed implants placement. In the anatomical cap group, patients were treated with a guided tissue healing, tooth-like cross-linkable acrylic resin caps had been immediately screwed on dental implants. The marginal loss of the alveolar bone height 1 year after surgery and Jemt's papillae index were obtained. Non-parametric statistics were performed with a level of significance of 1% RESULTS: Forty patients were included in the present retrospective analysis. After a follow-up of 1 year, none of the 40 included implants showed a failure. The Jemt's papilla index was 1.76±0.44 and 1.34±0.50 respectively for guided tissue healing and conventional healing group, without any significant difference. Within the first year of survey a bone loss of -1.27±0.26mm for conventional healing treatment showed a statistically significant difference (p-value