Rehabilitation Using Implants with Sloped Platform Edge vs. Standard Platform with Guided Bone Regeneration: A Randomized Control Clinical Trial.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vertical bone loss after using different techniques: sloped implants or standard implants with guided bone regeneration. Patients with tooth gap and horizontal bone deficiency were randomly allocated to the test group (implants with sloped platform-SLP) and control group (standard design implants with guided bone regeneration-GBR). The primary outcome was bone loss (6 months after finishing the prosthetic treatment). Secondary outcomes included the following: patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), post-operative edema, keratinized mucosa width, and pink aesthetic score (PES). The average bone loss at 6 months was 0.23 ± 0.15 mm and 1.03 ± 0.37 mm in the SLP and GBR groups, respectively. The SLP group was characterized by lower pain intensity the first 7 days ( p < 0.001), lower post-operative edema ( p < 0.001), lower consumption of NSAIDs on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 ( p = 0.002, <0.001, <0.001, and 0.008), and lower total OHIP-14 ( p = 0.047) on day 7. The keratinized mucosa width was 3.7 (3.4-4.0) mm and 2 (1.4-2.0) mm in the SLP and GBR groups, respectively. The preservation of the mesial, distal papillae, and the level of soft tissue correspondence were significantly higher in the SLP group ( p = 0.003, 0.038, <0.001). In the SLP group, more natural color and better texture of soft tissues were found ( p = 0.048, p = 0.041). The use of implants with a sloped platform resulted in superior outcomes compared to the standard-design implants with GBR.