Soft Tissue Augmentation: Pre‐, Peri‐, and Postimplantation

Endosseous implants have evolved into a widely accepted treatment option for restoring missing or failing teeth. This chapter addresses the soft tissue management around dental implants. It discusses different time points of soft tissue grafting. Connective tissue grafting generally works well, but studies dealing with periodontal plastic surgery also clearly demonstrate that the treatment results of soft tissue augmentation procedures may be highly variable and technique sensitive. Soft tissue management ahead of implant placement might ensure a better blood supply and improved stability of the tissues for the latter implant surgeries. Peri-implant soft tissue augmentation might be useful to maintain primary wound closure over a membrane used for GBR procedures to cover exposed implant threads. Postimplant soft tissue management might be performed at stage 2 surgery in order to increase the volume of soft tissue and sculpture the emergence profile of the peri-implant soft tissue with a provisional implant-supported crown.