One Piece Dental Implants in Esthetic Zone

Abstract

Objectives: In recent years, one-piece dental implants are widely used to replace missing teeth as the technique is minimally invasive, and its special design offers to be used in an atrophied and narrow bone. Few pieces of literature were found regarding the use of these dental implants in the esthetic zone. This study aimed to evaluate the esthetic satisfaction of patients treated with one-piece dental implants in the esthetic zone using a special technique to enhance gingival recontouring and provide an optimum emergence profile. 
 Methods: Twenty patients with single missing maxillary or mandibular teeth were enrolled in the study (25-50 year age group). They were treated by one-piece dental implants performing the flapless technique; a flame-shaped bur was used to create a sulcus around the implant abutment; the sulcus was then filled with flowable composite resin and allowed for seven days to recontour the gingival tissue. Esthetic satisfactions of the patients were evaluated two weeks and six months after the placement of the permanent crown using subjective and objective methods. 
 Results: The esthetic assessment after 14 days and after six months using the objective method Pink Esthetic Score / White Esthetic Score (PES / WES) index showed that 85% to 90% of the cases received PES and WES mean values of 6 or more, which is the threshold of clinical acceptability. Regarding the subjective method using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) index. After 14 days, the total means value for all the questions was (7.19), and the results after six months were (7.25). There was a statistically non-significant difference between the two-time intervals in both objective and subjective methods (P< 0.05). 
 Conclusions: It has been concluded that one-piece dental implants can be successfully used in the esthetic zone after the special gingival recontouring technique.