The risk for immediate implants is higher than for one placed in a delayed fashion.
The risk is, of course, delayed osseointegration of the immediate implant.
Osseointegration is a concept where the implants and the bone fuse together and this concept of Osseointegration is relevant not only for dental implants but also for hip implants or any kind of implants placed in the body.
I'm sure you have heard of people going for surgery for knee or hip replacements with metal implants. It’s the same concept, the titanium the implant has to heal and fuse with the bone for a strong foundation and that concept of osseointegration is critical for the overall long term success of the implant.
Now for immediate implant cases, typically the stability of the implant is not as good as compared to in a delayed case.
Therefore there is a higher chance that the implant could destabilize with biting, stress, and pressure.
As patients chew and eat, sometimes they can accidentally knock on implants and could disturb the healing.
This is especially so if the immediate implants come together with immediate temporary teeth, so any kind of pressure, any kind of knocking or load on immediate implants, could result in the failure of osseointegration of the implant and that would lead to loss of the implant.
So, there is a higher risk in immediate cases as compared to delayed cases, so case selection is very important.
To me, computer-guided planning is critical to make sure that virtually I have planned out the surgery in a 3D model so I know exactly where the implant is going to engage with the bone, so my level of predictability goes up so that I can mitigate this increased risk.
