Customized versus titanium healing abutments for preimplant tissue healing in fresh socket implants: A systematic review.

Background: It is suggested to use a customized abutment confirming to the configuration of the new extraction socket. Since there are no systematic reviews regarding this issue, the aim of this systematic review was to assess the efficacy of customized healing abutments versus titanium healing abutments on peri-implant tissue healing in fresh socket implants to improve the treatment prognosis in the clinic.

Materials and methods: Electronic searches were conducted on PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, and Google Scholar databases by the end of June 2022. All randomized controlled studies, prospective, retrospective, human studies of preimplant tissue healing around customized or titanium healing abutments, follow-up studies of more than 6 months, and in English were included in this study. The exclusion criteria were studies that were not clinical, with a follow-up period of <6 months, and those that assessed abutment healing.

Results: Forty-six studies were obtained following database research. Based on the eligibility criteria, five studies were finally included. Qualitative data analysis showed that two studies reported that customized abutments caused a significant decrease in a buccolingual width while two others did not report accurate results. Furthermore, one study only pointed to the significance of this change within 1 month after implant placement. Consequently, customized healing abutments may cause higher volume changes in the presence of thin bone phenotypes and facilitate the closure of large sockets. In addition, these investigations reported the same implant survival rate during the follow-up period for both methods.

Conclusion: Customized healing abutments exhibit efficacy in sealing immediate implant sockets, particularly in cases with thin bone phenotypes. These abutments induce significant volume changes, aiding in the closure of larger sockets and thereby preserving the socket volume.