Roland Glauser: Immediate function: from a pioneering concept... to routine

The lecture reviews the different loading concepts from a historical perspective till today and compares the clinical outcomes of delayed, early and immediate loading. Historically there was a tendency to rather seat too many implants to support immediate loading, which from nowadays' perspective can be considered as overengineering. Key is to rather control than eliminate implant loading, depending on the indications like full arch bridges / overdentures or single tooth / FPD restorations. There is evidence that immediate loading helps to maintain existing tissue volume and contours and that the success rate of immediate loading is comparable to delayed loading at least for healed sites and edentulous situations.