Are success and survival rates of early implant placement higher than immediate implant placement?

Immediate placement refers to the placement of an implant into a tooth socket at the time of extraction; early placement refers to the placement of an implant after substantial gingival healing, but before any clinically significant bone fill occurs within the socket. This study evaluated the success and survival rates of implants following immediate and early placement. 50 implants were placed in 36 patients. 26 immediate (group I) and 24 early placements (group II) were performed. Pain or tenderness with function, mobility, radiographic bone loss from initial surgery and exudate history were evaluated. Mean vertical bone loss in the immediate placement group was 0.55 mm and 0.80 mm in the early placement group. The survival rate for the immediate placement group was 96.16% with 51.6 months follow-up and in the early placement group was 100% with 61.9 months follow-up. The results of this study suggest that although the success and survival rates of early placed implants were a little higher and the follow up period was longer than immediately placed implants, the difference was not remarkable. In conclusion, both implant insertion techniques are safe and reliable procedures with considerably high survival rates.