Esthetic Rehabilitation with Immediate Implants in a Compromised Situation

The end goal of prosthetic replacement of teeth following tooth loss is to provide a functional restoration that is harmonious with the remaining natural dentition. To achieve this goal, hard and soft tissues need to be present in adequate volume and quality. An increasingly common strategy to preserve bone and reduce treatment times includes the placement of dental implant into a fresh extraction site. Resorption of the alveolar bone is common after the extraction and presents a clinical challenge to ideal implant placement, especially in the esthetic zone. In order to preserve the extraction socket dimension, immediate implant placement at the time of extraction has been proposed. The technique involves atraumatic extraction of the tooth followed by implant placement. Voids between the implant and the socket walls are filled with a particulate bone graft material. This article describes one such case of immediate implant placement and prosthodontic rehabilitation of a young patient following traumatic loss of natural teeth.