How do you preserve soft tissue to achieve an excellent aesthetic outcome? How do you avoid bone loss and the opening of pockets in the posterior area? These are often the questions encountered in implant therapy.

It is known that long-term clinical success of implants depends on a series of factors that range from implant design to bone volume, through muco-gingival surgery, prosthetic methods, or biocompatibility of materials. In addition to bone integration, an effective adhesion of the soft tissues is mandatory to seal the body envelope, avoiding bacterial penetration and bone loss. This lecture aims at classifying those factors, provide surgical techniques for bone and soft tissue management and propose practical solutions to obtain an effective and stable muco-integration.

To obtain muco-integration, it is only required to use biocompatible and clean materials at the trans-mucosal. To preserve it, the mechanical stability of the soft tissues has to be promoted, and care should be taken to choose non-traumatic prosthetic procedures. The aim of the lecture is to provide participants an overview on how to both achieve and maintain an effective muco-integration.