Treatise of Implant Dentistry

T he greatest expression of the circulation of this implant technique was represented by the national and international congresses held by the historic GISI (Gruppo Italiano Studi Implantari, Italian Implant Study Group), founded and directed by Giordano Muratori. From 1970 to 1997 the GISI congresses saw the participation of the most distinguished experts, documented by their published conference proceedings. The recent conversion of delayed-load implantology to immediate loading has generated confusion in terms of concepts and definitions. The emerging implants used for immediate loading by the Swedish school, and identical to those employed for delayed loading, actually maintained the marked differences between the Swedish and Italian schools, since the immediate loading of the former is based on implants that are completely different from those employed by the latter. These substantial differences require a separate classification of the two approaches and identification by the names of the two schools to which they refer: the Italian school, on the strength of over half a century of experience, and the Swedish one, which has yielded to clinical and scientific evidence only recently. Despite its belated acknowledgement of immediate loading, the Swedish school managed to produce vast literature in a very short time, thanks to its comprehensive and widespread presence within academia. Such literature comprises studies on the IL protocol (1-15), immediate loading with implants whose design features are still linked to delayed loading. Therefore, we feel it is essential to clarify the matter with a written protocol that can be used as a reference for the immediate loading and implant techniques of the Italian school. This chapter will thus attempt to remedy for this shortcoming by briefly outlining the principles and indications that constitute the protocol and guidelines of the immediate loading technique of the Italian school.