Clinical Evaluation of Placement of Implant by Flapless Technique Over Conventional Flap Technique

AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical advantages of flapless implant surgery over conventional flap technique of implant placement by assessing the marginal bone loss in 1 month, 2 months and 3 months postoperatively, pain assessment, number of analgesics taken by the patients postoperatively and the postoperative swelling between two groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted at Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Rajas Dental College and Hospital, Tirunelveli. The patients were assigned randomly to one of the two groups—flap (ten patients) or flapless (ten patients). Digital IOPARs were taken postoperatively. The parameters assessed were marginal bone loss (interproximal bone height), pain assessment by a 10-cm visual analog scale, swelling assessment by modification of tape measuring method by Gabka and Matsumara and the number of analgesics tablets taken every postoperative day from the day of surgery to 6 days after surgery. RESULTS AND STATISTICS: Descriptive statistics was done by calculating measures of central tendency (mean) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation) for all the parameters. Inferential statistics were done by unpaired Student’s t test to compare the mean difference between the two groups. The results of this study showed that the mean difference in the bone loss for baseline to the third month for the flap group was 0.34 ± 0.05 and for the flapless group was 0.03 ± 0.004 (p = 0.000***). Pain assessment by visual analog scale was statistically significant in all the 5 postoperative days indicating a better patient compliance in the flapless group and there was no statistical difference in the level of swelling between these two groups. CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that flapless implant surgery results in lesser loss of marginal bone and also results in better patient comfort; however, proper patient selection and technique is essential for a successful flapless implant surgery.