Purpose: 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.
Materials and methods: 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.
Results: 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).
Conclusion: The immediate restoration and preferred esthetic satisfaction had similar outcomes compared with the delayed restoration.