This is about two months after insertion. I honestly did scale the distal of the cuspid and had him back for this photo. The tissue around the implant restoration looks great, but the cuspid is still collecting a lot of plaque due to the restoration there. I have him going to the periodontist now and hopefully I will get to replace some of the natural tooth restorations in the near future. I was very pleased with the radiographic result showing the bone level going horizontally across from implant to implant with no sign of a vertical defect.

I have used this one stage technique many times with external hex implants and have consistently viewed the same results over long periods of time. As long as the top of the implant is 1.5 to 2mm above the crest of bone, there will be no loss of bone in the area. Bone loss around the head of one stage implants is strictly a matter of the re-establishment of "biological width".