Soft and hard tissue evaluation for vestibular socket therapy of immediately placed implants in infected and non-infected sockets: a 1-year prospective cohort study.

Background: Immediate implant placement using vestibular socket therapy (VST) proved to offer a successful treatment option in compromised sockets. However, the presence of active signs infection complicates immediate implants in sockets with defective labial plates, due to the possible contamination of the implant or the bone graft with existing infected tissues or oral environment via the fistula. This study, therefore, aims to explore the success of immediate implant placement using VST in managing infected compromised sockets.

Methods: We included 26 age- and sex-matched patients with 41 implants sites. Thirteen patients had 19 infected (group I) and 13 had 21 non-infected type 2 sockets (group N). Both groups were treated using vestibular socket therapy (VST) and a 6-day protocol. Implant survival, changes in facial bone thickness, and mid, mesial, and distal mucosal levels were evaluated 1 year after implant placement. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare both groups. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to study changes with time within each group. The statistical significance level was set at P < 0.05.

Results: All implants survived; no significant difference was found between groups N and I regarding apical, mid, and crestal bone thickness and soft tissue level, except at the mesial papilla, where the recession was significantly more in group N than in group I. Changes over time were statistically significant in the apical, mid, and crestal bone thickness in both groups. The mean bone thickness gain ranged from 0.85 to 2.4 mm and 0.26-1.63 mm in groups I and N, respectively. Additionally, the mean mucosal recession ranged from 0.29 to 0.51 mm and 0.39-1.47 mm in groups I and N, respectively.

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study immediate implant placement in type II infected sockets using the 6-day protocol and VST achieved 100% implant survival, while maintaining the regenerated facial bone thickness with minimal mucosal recession.

Trial Registration: The protocol for this study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov at 3/10/2021 (registration number NCT04787224).