Introduction: Immediate placement of implants in a fresh post-extraction socket is an increasingly popular and established treatment option. However, active infection in the extraction site may adversely affect the outcome of this procedure. This study was designed to assess the clinical results of immediate placement of dental implants in infected extraction sockets using a standardized protocol, which included (a) the use of an Er,Cr:YSGG laser for the decontamination of the infected socket prior to implant insertion, and (b) the utilization of an in situ hardening alloplastic bone graft substitute to augment the gap between the implant surface and the labial plate of bone. Patients and Methods: A retrospective record review was used to identify 68 patients who had implants placed as per the described protocol. A total of 126 implants were placed in 68 patients (65 implants in the maxilla, 61 implants in the mandible). The implants were loaded 136 ± 73 days (mean ± standard deviation; range: 37–400 days) after implant placement. Eight patients (16 implants) were subsequently lost to follow up. Results: 105 of the 110 implants (95.45%) placed immediately in the infected sites using the described protocol survived after prosthetic loading. Conclusion: Immediate implant placement in previously infected sites using the protocols mentioned in our study with laser decontamination of the socket, grafting with an in situ hardening alloplastic bone graft material and non-submerged healing shows a similar survival rate to the published success rates for immediate implants placed in non-infected sites.

BackgroundIn this research article, we evaluate the use of sub-periosteal tunneling (tunnel technique) combined with alloplastic in situ hardening biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP, a compound of β-tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite) bone graft for lateral augmentation of a deficient alveolar ridge.MethodsA total of 9 patients with deficient mandibular alveolar ridges were included in the present pilot study. Ten lateral ridge augmentation were carried out using the sub-periosteal tunneling technique, including a bilateral procedure in one patient. The increase in ridge width was assessed using CBCT evaluation of the ridge preoperatively and at 4 months postoperatively. Histological assessment of the quality of bone formation was also carried out with bone cores obtained at the implant placement re-entry in one patient.ResultsThe mean bucco-lingual ridge width increased in average from 4.17 ± 0.99 mm to 8.56 ± 1.93 mm after lateral bone augmentation with easy-graft CRYSTAL using the tunneling technique. The gain in ridge width was statistically highly significant (p = 0.0019). Histomorphometric assessment of two bone cores obtained at the time of implant placement from one patient revealed 27.6% new bone and an overall mineralized fraction of 72.3% in the grafted area 4 months after the bone grafting was carried out.ConclusionsWithin the limits of this pilot study, it can be concluded that sub-periosteal tunneling technique using in situ hardening biphasic calcium phosphate is a valuable option for lateral ridge augmentation to allow implant placement in deficient alveolar ridges. Further prospective randomized clinical trials will be necessary to assess its performance in comparison to conventional ridge augmentation procedures.