Connective tissue grafts have become a standard for compensating horizontal volume loss in immediate implant placement. The use of new biomaterials like acellular matrices may avoid the need to harvest autogenous grafts, yielding less postoperative morbidity. This randomized comparative study evaluated the clinical outcomes following extraction and immediate implant placement in conjunction with anorganic bovine bone mineral (ABBM) and the use of a porcine acellular dermal matrix (ADM) vs an autogenous connective tissue graft (CTG) in the anterior maxilla. Twenty patients (11 men, 9 women) with a mean age of 48.9 years (range: 21 to 72 years) were included in the study and randomly assigned to either the test (ADM) or control (CTG) group. They underwent tooth extraction and immediate implant placement together with ABBM for socket grafting and either ADM or CTG for soft tissue augmentation. Twelve months after implant placement, the cases were evaluated clinically and volumetrically. All implants achieved osseointegration and were restored. The average horizontal change of the ridge dimension at 1 year postsurgery was -0.55 ± 0.32 mm for the ADM group and -0.60 ± 0.49 mm for the CTG group. Patients of the ADM group reported significantly less postoperative pain. Using xenografts for hard and soft tissue augmentation in conjunction with immediate implant placement showed no difference in the volume change in comparison to an autogenous soft tissue graft, and showed significantly less postoperative morbidity.
