Ridge augmentation for immediate postextraction implants: eight year retrospective study.

Implant placement immediately after tooth extraction has become a well accepted treatment modality. It is used to replace either a single tooth or several teeth in an edentulous ridge. Various augmentation materials are used to build up the edentulous ridge, to maintain it, and to prevent resorption upon extraction. The learning objective of this paper is to present an 8-year retrospective study of 55 screw-type implant placement in 40 patients, using an alloplast (mixed with autogenous blood) as the augmentation material. The paper reviews the progress of implant technology and describes the method and materials used in this particular study. Four cases are used to illustrate the simultaneous implantation and ridge augmentation procedure.