Abstract
In regard to the esthetics of dental implant treatment, the positions of marginal gingival and interdental papilla, as well as long-term stability, are as important as in the restoration of natural teeth. But no matter how much research has been carried out on these concerns in the past two decades of the 1990s and 2000s, not a great deal has been learned. This research seems to consist of studies only on changes in appearance of the marginal gingiva and interdental papilla caused by the change of hard tissue around implants that occurred after insertion, already well-known in the 1980s. But what’s more important is the preservation and/or reconstruction of sufficient hard tissue for the implant site to ensure the esthetics of dental implant treatment. Many earlier reports suggested that it generally resulted in the esthetic restoration during implant treatment to maintain at least the hard tissue of 2 mm on buccal (labial) and lingual (palatal) implant sites, 1.5 mm between the implant and the natural tooth, and 3 mm between the adjacent implants. Furthermore, the inserted implants should be 3 mm apical to zeniths of the facial-gingival margins, but there are individual differences.
