Immediate Implants and PRGF: What you Should Know

 

Historically, the immediate placement of dental implants into extraction sockets has given us variable results. Certainly, when we try to place a dental implant into a poor site where the bone is of poor quality, we should expect bone loss. In most cases, our implant will still be a success in that it will heal solid in the bone. However, I do not consider significant bone loss on an implant to be a successful case. Because of this, we have been very conservative in our approach toward immediate implants.

Approaching Immediate Implants With Care

For about the past three years,we have been using plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) as an adjunct to our bone grafting procedures and we have also used this in conjunction with immediate implants with and without grafting.

This article from the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (J Oral Maxillofac Surg 67:2476-2484, 2009), studies the effect of the use of PRGF along with immediate implants into sites that have infection present. Their studies showed this to be an effective and predictable treatment method.

This reinforces my experience with immediate implants and PRGF. We also have been using bone graft material along with this care which has given us even better results for bone maintenance.

Immediate Implants and Care at Wagner Oral Surgery

I still believe that you should have as close to an ideal a site as possible and for those patients who can tolerate staged procedures, I truly believe this gives the best result. However, I find more and more people want immediate care and that is pushing us into providing treatments that we might feel are otherwise risky. The use of PRGF and grafting materials along with these procedures improves our outcomes.

Do you have questions about immediate implants and PRGF? We are always ready to answer questions and share our practices with the communities in Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee. Call us at (262) 634-4646 to learn more.