A randomized controlled clinical trial of conventional and immediately loaded tapered implants with screw-retained crowns.
PURPOSE: Surgical, prosthodontic, and esthetic outcomes of conventional and immediately loaded, single, tapered, roughened-surface Southern implants in the anterior maxilla that were restored with screw-retained crowns were compared over 1 year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Standardized surgical and prosthodontic procedures were followed and accepted criteria were used for assessment. RESULTS: There were no significant differences within or between the control and test groups for age, gender, bone quality or quantity, implant stability measurements at surgery, or implant length. CONCLUSION: After 1 year, the implants that had been immediately loaded with single provisional crowns at surgery and definitive crowns 8 weeks later were as successful as conventionally loaded 2-stage implants.