Immediate implant placement: a case series

A major drawback of implant therapy is the comparatively long healing period involved. Early and immediate loading of dental implants can significantly decrease the treatment time and thus result in an increase in patients' comfort. In this report, 3 cases of placement and immediate loading of the final implants are presented. In 2 of these cases, where preliminary augmentation was necessary, provisional implants were placed after the procedure and immediate provisional dentures were delivered. With the exception of 1 case, in which 1 implant failed, no adverse events were observed. All cases are in function now for 3 to 5 years after implant placement. The observations from this limited number of cases confirm that immediate loading of implants could be a viable treatment option.