A narrative review on provisionalization and peri-implant soft tissue management: Timings, techniques, and esthetic optimization

Implants placed in the esthetics zone require additional emphasis on soft tissue management to contour the gingiva such that the final crown mimics the required esthetics without compromising the health of the adjoining tissue. For this, three things are of importance – the timing, technique and esthetic optimization. The current review will guide the reader in understanding and applying the knowledge in such fore-mentioned scenarios. This narrative review aims to provide a comprehensive overview on the effect of provisional restorations on soft-tissue management in implant dentistry by synthesizing relevant articles obtained from various sources, including electronic databases such as PubMed/Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar, as well as manual searches of cross-references and textbooks. The search employed MeSH terms and keywords related to the topic, such as “implant esthetics”, “emergence profile”, “soft tissue management”, “provisional restoration”, “immediate temporisation”, and “peri-implant mucosa”. The inclusion was English-language articles published between the years January 2000 to May 2025 that aligned with the review objectives. After a thorough assessment of the included articles, 24 high-quality articles were selected for this review. The selected articles elucidate the timings, techniques, and esthetic optimization of provisional restorations in the soft tissue management around dental implants. This narrative review serves as a valuable resource for dental professionals, researchers and educators interested in staying abreast with the evidence in the field of provisionalization in implant dentistry.