OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to investigate the duration of gingival healing after the stage II surgery of dental implantation for periodontitis patients and to provide clinical guidelines for implant restoration.

METHODSTwenty-nine periodontitis patients who had implantation surgery and achieved osseointegration were operated with stage II surgery (a total of 60 pieces of implants). The height of buccal gingival of each implant was measured twice after the stage II surgery. All implants were measured at the lowest point ofbuccal gingival after one week. The implants were randomly divided into four groups according to the schedule of the next test time: group one at one week from the initial test point, group two at two weeks, group three at three weeks, and group four at four weeks. Each group includes 15 pieces of implants. The amount of the buccal gingival change in each group between the second and first tests was determined, and the data were analyzed statistically.

RESULTSThe amount of gingival change of groups one, two, three, and four was (-0.25 +/- 0.66), (-0.04 +/- 0.52), (-0.70 +/- 0.77), and (-0.74 +/- 1.09) mm, respectively. No significant difference was observed between groups one and two in terms of the amount of gingival changes (P > 0.05). However, a significant difference was found between groups two and three (P < 0.05), and the amount of gingival recession was 0.66 mm. No significant difference was found between groups three and four (P > 0.05), and the gingival achieved stability.

CONCLUSIONThe gingival recession achieves stability at the fourth week (after 28 d) after stage II surgery. At this time, the implant can be restored, and the abutment can be selected according to the amount of gingival change of the periodontitis patient.