All 15 consecutive patients eligible to join the study on the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria agreed to participate in this study. The patient characteristics are depicted in Table 1. All implant-supported restorations had natural antagonistic teeth. Four of the 15 patients treated had a mobile implant, which had to be removed (in two patients 3 months after crown placement and in two patients 6 months after crown placement). Of the four failing implants, two were placed in the mandible and two in the maxilla, three were positioned in between two natural teeth and one free-ending, and two of the original teeth in the site of implant loss were lost because of crown fracture and two because of root fracture. The remaining 11 patients completed the 1-year evaluation. Implant and restoration survival were 73.3% at the 1-year evaluation. All the failed implant patients were successfully treated again after a healing period of 3 months (delayed placement).

The mean scores of the indices for plaque, calculus, gingiva, and bleeding were very low, hence favourable (Table 2). There was no plaque and calculus at any of the restoration surfaces and no infection present as expressed with the gingival index. Some minor bleeding on probing was present in only one patient. The mean probing depth was 1.9 mm (SD 0.8 mm) at the 1-year follow-up. The mean marginal bone level at the 1-month evaluation session (T₁) was 0.94 ± 0.54 mm apically of the neck of the implant (Table 3). The mean loss of marginal bone between 1 month after restoration placement (T₁) and 1-year post-loading (T₁₂) was 0.17 ± 0.73 mm (Table 4). One patient’s restoration became loose, which could be solved by retightening the screw. No other complications occurred during the 1-year evaluation period. The questionnaire revealed that only one patient evaded eating with the implant-supported restoration and that all patients were satisfied with colour and form of crown and surrounding mucosa. The patients mean overall satisfaction was 9.0 ± 0.6 from a scale of 1 to 10 at the 1-year evaluation (Table 5). Success rate, as calculated from the criteria of success as proposed by Albrektsson et al. [18], was 73.3%.