Within the limits of this review, a positive association exists between weighted flap thickness and mean and complete root coverage.

Systemic conditions and habits influence dental implant survival to varying degrees. Illnesses that impair the normal healing cascade worsen surgical success. The mere presence of a disease, however, does not necessarily preclude implant therapy or affect significantly long-term outcomes. Certain disorders, when controlled, or other situations allow implant survival rates that match those in health. This paper reviews these relative contraindications, which include adolescence, aging, osteoporosis, smoking, diabetes, positive interleukin-1 genotype, human immunodeficiency virus positivity, cardiovascular disease, and hypothyroidism.

In order to ensure implant success, it is essential to select patients who do not possess local or systemic contraindications to therapy. Hence, it is the purpose of this paper to review the medical diseases that reportedly preclude conventional dental implant treatment. Absolute contraindications to implant rehabilitation include recent myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident, valvular prosthesis surgery, immunosuppression, bleeding issues, active treatment of malignancy, drug abuse, psychiatric illness, as well as intravenous bisphosphonate use. Any of these conditions bar elective oral surgery, and require judicious monitoring by the physician as well as the dental provider. Noncompliance to the suggested protocol may, in the worst possible case, result in patient mortality.

Dental implants restore function to near normal in partially or completely edentulous patients. A root-form implant is the most frequently used type of dental implant today. The basis for dental implants is osseointegration, in which osteoblasts grow and directly integrate with the surface of titanium posts surgically embedded into the jaw. Radiologic assessment is critical in the preoperative evaluation of the dental implant patient, as the exact height, width, and contour of the alveolar ridge must be determined. Moreover, the precise locations of the maxillary sinuses and mandibular canals, as well as their relationships to the site of implant surgery must be ascertained. As such, radiologists must be familiar with implant design and surgical placement, as well as augmentation procedures utilized in those patients with insufficient bone in the maxilla and mandible to support dental implants.