Most of what I do in my own practice involves placing implants in a two stage procedure. I don't always "bury" the head of the implant below the level of bone, but I usually try to get primary soft tissue closure. The exception is the posterior mandible. Here you have a limited amount of bone to work with before you run into the mandibular neurovascular bundle. We know that bone will migrate away from the interface between the implant and the abutment due to bacterial invasion and the bodies attempt to provide for "biological width". So, it makes sense to me in an area where bone height is critical and cosmetics is more or less a secondary consideration to place the implants so that the joint is 1.5 to 2.0mm above the crest of bone. The photographs at the top of the page show the three implants placed in the left mandibular posterior quadrant at about three months after placement. There was no second stage surgical procedure. The bone level retains a horizontal configuration between the implants.