title: Evaluation of soft-tissue alteration around implant-supported single-tooth restoration in the anterior maxilla: the pink esthetic score.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the alterations of soft tissue around a single-tooth implant in the anterior maxilla with a new defined pink esthetic score (PES) at the time of crown placement and 6 months post-loading.
  
  
  METHODS
  According to the case inclusion criteria, 29 patients subjected to single-tooth replacement with ITI implant-supported restoration in the anterior maxilla were included. Assessments of soft tissue after crown placement (baseline) and at 6 months (follow-up) were performed by two orthodontists with PES.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No statistically significant difference was found between the two observers. PES for the single-tooth implant varied from 6.90 to 9.55 at 6-month follow-up. The scores of the mesial and distal papilla, level of soft-tissue margin, soft-tissue contour, soft-tissue color and soft-tissue texture increased significantly at follow-up. The highest percentage of improvement in PES was found in the cases scoring 0-4 at the baseline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The esthetic outcome of soft tissue around the single-tooth implant had improved significantly at follow-up compared with baseline according to PES assessment. The results suggested that the potential for significant changes in soft-tissue levels after restorative therapy needs to be considered for single-implant therapy in the anterior maxilla.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Implantology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jinotong University, Shanghai, China. lhc9@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Hong-Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Zhi-Yong
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Long-Fei
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yi-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Pu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003442:Crowns / Q000592:standards; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000592:standards*; D019250:Dental Implants, Single-Tooth / Q000592:standards*; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported / Q000592:standards; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008437:Maxilla / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010519:Periodontium / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome