Histologic evaluation of 2 human immediately loaded and 1 submerged titanium implants inserted in the posterior mandible and retrieved after 6 months.

Immediate loading can be successfully used in implant dentistry. Many factors are thought to be of importance in obtaining mineralized tissues at the interface. One such factor is the implant surface characteristics. The authors retrieved, after a 6-month loading period, 2 immediately loaded implants and 1 submerged implant, each of which had been inserted in posterior mandibles. Histology showed that, in both immediately loaded implants, mineralized tissue was present at the interface, and the bone-implant contact percentage was about 65% to 70%. No gaps, fibrous tissue, or inflammatory infiltrates were present at the interfaces. In the submerged (control) implant, the bone-implant contact percentage was much lower (about 35%). Our results showed that immediate loading of dental implants, even in the posterior regions of the jaw bones, hadn't caused untoward effects on the formation of mineralized tissues at the interface, producing, on the contrary, a higher bone-implant contact percentage than in the control implant, and thus, immediate loading can be a possible alternative procedure in implant dentistry.