Early, delayed, or late single implant placement: 10-year results from a randomized controlled clinical trial

The aim of this study was to present the 10-year clinical and radiographic data from a RCT on single-tooth implants placed early, delayed, or late after tooth extraction.

Sixty-three patients were randomly allocated to three groups and received an implant on average 10 days (Ea), 3 months (De), or 17 months (La) after tooth extraction. Second-stage surgery was performed after 3 months of submerged healing; metal-ceramic crowns were cemented after one additional month. Standardized periapical radiographs were taken 1 week after implant placement (TP), 1 week (TC) and 1-1.5 year (T1) after crown delivery, and 10 years after implant placement (T10). Pocket depth (PD) and bleeding on probing were registered during controls (TC - T10).

Two Ea and one De implants failed to osseointegrate. Seven patients (4 Ea, 1 De, and 2 La) were not available at T10 . No significant differences were found among groups regarding implant survival or radiographic peri-implant marginal bone levels (Ea: 1.15 ± 0.77; De: 1.53 ± 1.06; La: 1.42 ± 1.07) at T10 . Similarly, no differences were observed among groups in the number of implants with PD ≥ 5 mm (Ea: 29%; De: 35%; La: 44%) or the average depth of the sites with PD ≥ 5 mm (Ea: 5.4 ± 0.7; De: 6.1 ± 1.4; La: 5.4 ± 0.5) at T10 . Peri-implant mucositis was found in 70% of the cases; peri-implantitis was diagnosed only in two implants (1 De, 1 La) corresponding to 4.3%.

Single-tooth implants placed early or delayed after tooth extraction show high survival rates and limited peri-implant marginal bone resorption or biological complications, similar to what is observed with implants placed according to the conventional (late) protocol.