Transitioning From Teeth to Implants: A Narrative Review

Patients may need removal of their teeth with placement of implants for rehabilitation. The clinical problem is the status of the remaining teeth and how this affects the timing for implant placement and the method for provisionalization. The importance of this review is to document the different strategies including sequential tooth removal and grafting and the use of teeth to provide a fixed provisional rather than a removable provisional, to provide surgeons with a reference to maintain patient function during their rehabilitation.

Pubmed.gov was the information source. Years reviewed included 1990 to 2022. Inclusion criteria included only articles in peer-reviewed journals. Variables evaluated included the success for placing implants immediately into extraction sites, and the methods to transition between steps in their rehabilitation. Data collected were results of systematic reviews and independent clinical series, as well as case reports of prosthetic methods for transitioning.

The search used terms which included implants in extraction sites (n = 205) and transitioning teeth to implants (n = 153). Twenty-one articles were reviewed involving extraction sites and 19 articles reviewed concerning transitioning from teeth to implants. The placement of implants immediately into excretion sites did have a relative risk for failure compared to implant placement in healed sites. The use of non-restorable teeth to support a fixed provisional prosthesis was successful; however, variability in reporting prevented a statistical analysis.

The surgeon needs to utilize teeth to provide support during treatment phases in order to provide the patient with a fixed provisional prosthesis to allow for implant integration and to provide time for graft healing. Specific methods used for transitioning do not have a significant evidence base to recommend one method but routine prosthetic techniques have been used and are reported in case reports.