Soft Tissue Management in Anterior Implants: A Comparison of Two Approaches

Soft tissue management in the esthetic zone is of paramount importance for today’s oral and maxillofacial surgeon and their patients. Today we are able to do extraordinary grafting procedures that can be enhanced even more by autogenous and recombinant growth factors. Even with these advantages, soft tissue management and papilla development can be a problem secondary to restorative dentists who aren’t diligent at developing it with their provisionals or inadequate patient compliance with unstable removable or ill-fitting temporaries. This short presentation will demonstrate a simple yet very predictable comparison of soft tissue management and papilla development beginning with extraction and ridge preservation all the way to final restoration by using case presentations. I will compare the “traditional” flipper approach to the relatively new “Snap On Smile” as a provisional. While both methods are adequate, it is apparent by these case reports that the snap on smile is superior in papilla development. This can be attributed to increased stability in the provisional; and improved patient compliance as typically the “Snap on Smile” is easier to wear “full time, thus providing much better tissue support.