To evaluate the clinical effect of tenting screw technique on the horizontal bone augmentation of single upper anterior missing tooth.

In total, thirty patients with single upper anterior missing tooth who needed staged horizontal bone augmentation were included in this study in Jianli Stomatological Hospital of Dongguan City from January 2016 to February 2017. These patients were randomly divided into two groups with 15 in each. The experimental group was treated with tenting screw technology while guided bone regeneration (GBR) was used in the control group. Thirty implants were implanted in 6 months after bone augmentation. A second-stage operation and the final restoration were performed in 4-6 months after implantation. Data of CBCT in the process of implantation were collected, and the intra-oral digital photos were taken in 12 months after the final restoration. Pink Esthetic Score (PES) in 12 months after restoration and alveolar bone horizontal width were analyzed with software (SPSS 20.0) . The independent sample t-test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test were used according to the data distribution, while the significant level was set at 0.05.

Both the follow-up rate of the patients and the survival rate of implants were 100%. PES of the experimental and control groups were 10.8 ± 1.1 and 9.2 ± 2.1, respectively, where there was significant difference (t= 2.698, P= 0.013) . The horizontal width in 6 months after bone augmentation of the experimental group (7.58 ± 0.27, mm) was significantly higher than that of the control group (6.70 ± 0.41, mm; t= 6.953, P<0.001) . Similarly, significant difference was also found in the horizontal width in 12 months after bone augmentation between the experimental (7.15 ± 0.44, mm) and control group (6.24 ± 0.49, mm; t= 5.349, P<0.001) .

Tenting screw technique was a predictable method to maintain esthetic alveolar ridge in the upper anterior region with single missing tooth. However, due to the short observation time of this study, its long-term clinical outcome needs to be evaluated further.