Influence of the abutment on tissue conditioning and the satisfaction of patients rehabilitated with single prostheses on implants: a clinical trial.
Tissue Conditioning; Periimplant Aesthetics; Satisfaction; Prosthetic component.
Objective: Evaluate objectively and subjectively the influence of prosthetic abutment on esthetic of single implants.
Materials and Methods: A blind, non-randomized controlled trial was performed. Fourteen implants were provisionally rehabilitated with a titanium prefabricated prosthetic component (GT) and 10 implants with a provisional preparable prosthetic component (GP). In both groups, tissue conditioning (TC) was performed using the non-surgical gradual pressure technique and peri-implant aesthetics were assessed before and after this process, using the Pink Esthetic Score (PES). PES was also applied on homologous tooth of rehabilitation. Aesthetic satisfaction was analyzed using the visual analog scale (EVA) after the conditioning process. Clinical data on the gingival mucosa were also collected.
Results: Peri-implant aesthetics before and after TC, as well as patient satisfaction was similar between groups, p> 0.05. Significant differences were found for PES values before and after TC, and for comparison with the homologous tooth in both groups, p <0.05. The tissue conditioning process was not influenced by the implantation time, loading time and peri-implant biotype, p> 0.05.
Conclusion: The prosthetic intermediary did not influence neither the tissue conditioning process nor patient satisfaction. The tissue conditioning step is able to improve the peri-implant aesthetic results, however, the gingival aesthetics of the natural teeth is still significantly greater.