Management of Fenestration Defects During Flapless Immediate Implant Placement in the Esthetic Zone

The success of flapless immediate implant placement is dependent on the bony architecture on the buccal aspect of the socket. The presence of a fenestration defect in the buccal cortical plate may jeopardize the esthetic outcome, especially if the clinician does not undertake adequate soft and hard tissue augmentation procedures. This article describes the use of an esthetic buccal flap design to deal with fenestration defects created during anterior implant placement immediately after extraction. This technique has been proven effective in maintaining the soft tissue architecture and allows hard tissue grafting of the fenestration defect around the implant in a postextraction socket.