The single-tooth dental implant: practical guidelines for hard tissue augmentation.

With the increased popularity of implants and focus on .. esthetics, there is great emphasis on idealized bone foundation and soft tissue contours. The goal of reconstructive procedures is to provide peri-implant bone that support and maintain gingival contours. This article reviews ridge deficiency diagnosis and predicts the need for bone augmentation before tooth extraction. It also presents early intervention to minimize bone loss, various bone reconstruction techniques, and suggests predictable methods for different clinical scenarios.