Immediate vs Delayed Restorations of Immediately Placed Single Implants in the Anterior Maxilla: A Nonrandomized Clinical Study

This study was conducted to compare the radiographic, esthetic, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) between immediate and delayed restorations of immediately placed single implants in the maxillary esthetic zone.Forty patients with immediate single dental implants in the anterior maxilla were included in this study. Afterward, they were allocated either for immediate restoration with a provisional restoration (IR: 20 patients) or for a delayed restoration (DR: 20 patients). The evaluations were performed after 1 year of follow-up.No implant and prosthetic failures were observed during the 1-year follow-up. Two minor complications were found in two IR patients; however, no complication was reported in the DR group during the 1 year. Nevertheless, this difference was not statistically significant (P > .05). After 1 year, the mean marginal bone level changes (MBL) were 0.47 ± 0.29 mm and 0.54 ± 0.21 mm for IR and DR, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of MBL (P = .3). Notably, the mean total pink esthetic score (PES) and white esthetic score (WES) after 1 year of follow-up were 11.2 ± 1.1 (PES) and 8 ± 1.02 (WES) for the immediate restoration, and 10.2 ± 0.97 (PES) and 7.65 ± 1.20 (WES) for the delayed restoration. Also, no statistically significant difference was found between IR and DR in terms of esthetic scores (P > .05). The patient satisfaction of these two groups had no statistically significant difference, except for the esthetic factor (P = .04).The immediate restoration and preferred esthetic satisfaction had similar outcomes compared with the delayed restoration.