Manual or Digitally Guided Surgical Technique for Replacing Single Tooth Edentulism by Means of Sub-crestally Placed Implants. A 3-year Parallel Randomized Clinical Study on Marginal Bone Levels Stability

"Implants were placed by means of a template for a guided surgery approach (GD Group) or with a standard free-hand surgical approach without any additional device (FH Group). A non expert doctor (less that 20 implants placed in the professional activity) was selected for the procedures related to the GD Group; a skilled operator (more than 1000 implants placed in the professional activity) was selected for the procedures related to the FH Group, respectively.~A two-stage surgical technique was chosen. Implants were placed (Anyridge, Megagen Implants, Seoul, Korea) 1 mm below the crestal level, as recommended by the manufacturer. After flap elevation the height of the supra-crestal soft tissue (STH) was measured by means of a calibrated probe.~An inter-implant distance of 3 mm at least, and/or an interproximal space from 1.5 to 3 mm between an implant and the adjacent tooth were observed.~Flaps were sutured over the implants to allow a submerged healing."