Abstract

The gingival biotype is critical for implant health and esthetic, masticatory, and hygienic peri-implant soft tissue thickness (STT) results. However, there is no unanimity of data on the effect of gingival biotypes on dental implant survival. Therefore, the current research was aimed at evaluating the outcome of flapped and flapless (FL) surgical interventions on gingival biotypes. The split-mouth study placed forty dental implants in twenty patients (n = 20) in the mandible’s first molar area using flapped and FL implant surgical procedures. Clinical measurements of STT and buccolingual width (BLW) were done at baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Appropriate statistical tests were conducted for intragroup and intergroup comparisons for all the groups with 95% confidence intervals. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. The results revealed a time-dependent increase in the STT in both groups. A significant increase was observed in STT in the flapped group compared to the FL group for 6 months (p = 0.026) and 1 year (p < 0.001). Furthermore, both flapped, and FL groups observed a time-dependent decrease (p < 0.050) in BLW. A significant reduction was observed between the two groups at 6 months (p = 0.040) and 1 year (p = 0.050). The study concluded that between the two groups, the flapped procedure led to a significant increase in STT and a decrease in the BLW of bone. Therefore the FL procedure needs a decrease in the BLW of bone.

Key words: Flapless, Gingival biotype, Buccolingual width, Dental Implantation.