Socket-shield Technique: A Systematic (Scoping) Review of Case Series and Case Reports

The present study is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the socket-shield technique (SST) and immediate implant placement (IIP) as the treatment of choice for the stabilization of soft and hard tissues at the extraction site and correlate with patient-related and implant-related factors.

An electronic search was performed on Cochrane, EBSCO host, Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Wiley Library, Google website search, and Web of Science databases from January 2010 to September 2021. The search terms used were "socket-shield technique," "modified SST," "root membrane technique," "pontic shield technique," and "immediate implant." Case report and case series, both retrospective and prospective in nature, where SST procedures were done with IIP after tooth extraction were considered for the study. However, clinical trials on animals and studies with less than 3-month follow-up after implant placement were not considered for the study. The studies were collected, analyzed, and tabulated for further analysis to evaluate the aim and objectives of the study.

Preliminary search identified through databases resulted in 350 articles, which on further screening led to exclusion of 299 articles based on the selection criteria. Therefore, 51 articles were considered for the final analysis which comprised 11 case studies and 40 case reports. With a wide age-group, the maxillary anterior region was the site of choice for the SST with IIP when compared to the posterior region. Better adaptability, maintenance of ridge contour, and good success rate followed by limited complications were observed among case series and reports.

SST was successful in providing stability, esthetics, with lesser marginal bone loss and higher pink esthetic scores. However, well-designed prospective case series are few in number; thereby insufficient data on its reliability and longtime stability limit its application.

SST provides a promising result and better esthetic outcome with minimal requirement of soft tissue grafts, thereby increasing its popularity and its application. However, further studies with a larger sample size and effective clinical research designs with a follow-up period are a requirement to establish the procedure and its reliability.