Immediate Implant Placement Following Tooth Extraction: A Clinical and Radiological Evaluation

A waiting period of 12 months or longer to allow total socket healing used to be accepted protocol for placing implants. This paradigm has been challenged within the last decade by reducing the time between tooth extraction and implant placement. New protocols have been developed in which implants are placed at the time of extraction of the tooth, or soon after, before significant bone resorption occurs, known as immediate implants. This study aims to determine the success rate of implants placed immediately into fresh extraction sockets, by evaluating clinically and radiographically the soft tissue and hard tissue changes that occur up to 9 months following placement of implants.