Sufficient, high-quality bone surrounding a dental implant—in particular, the crestal ridge—is fundamental to long-term treatment success. Accordingly, crestal bone maintenance ought to be prioritized well before prosthetic planning commences. A variety of approaches for averting crestal bone deterioration have been documented. Implants employing platform switching represent one such strategy. This investigation sought to determine whether platform-switched implants, combined with a papilla-sparing flap technique, could effectively reduce interproximal bone resorption at single-implant sites. Conducted as a parallel-arm randomized controlled trial, the study enrolled 21 subjects each requiring a single implant, who were assigned at random to three arms: Group A: Platform-matched implants paired with standard flap reflection, Group B: Platform-switched implants paired with standard flap reflection, and Group C: Platform-switched implants paired with a papilla-sparing flap design. Clinical indices (PI, GI, mPI, and mGI scores) and radiographic measurements were recorded to compare treatment outcomes among the three protocols. Subjects in Group A exhibited a mean crestal bone reduction of 1.292 ± 0.084 mm at the 3-month interval and 1.804 ±.038 mm at the 6-month interval. Group B subjects demonstrated mean losses of 0.631 ± 0.092 mm at 3 months and 1.139 ± 0.080 mm at 6 months. Group C subjects recorded a mean crestal loss of 0.327 ±.075 mm at 3 months and 0.544 ± 0.084 mm at 6 months. The data reveal that the smallest degree of crestal bone resorption was observed in Group C, followed sequentially by Group B, while the greatest resorption occurred in Group A. It may therefore be inferred that coupling platform-switched implants with a papilla-sparing flap design constitutes the most effective approach for curtailing bone loss, with platform-switched implants alone being the next most beneficial option.
