Summary - The Next Level: Mastering Art & Science of Soft Tissue Augmentation Around Implants

Overview

Convened by Dr Shayan Barootchi (A/Professor Harvard University) and Dr Mehdi Valizadeh (Clin. A/Professor University of Western Australia). This is the second ‘The Next Level’ course featuring Shayan and Mehdi. They are looking forward to returning to the Park Hyatt Sydney where the first course was held in 2024.

Appropriate soft tissue management will support harmonious aesthetics and long-term peri-implant tissue stability and health. This two-day intensive workshop will focus on the complex management of soft tissues around dental implants. Particular attention will be given to managing deficiencies in keritanised mucosal width and soft tissue volume deficiencies around dental implants.

The workshop will discuss treatment planning considerations, important risk factors, biological principles and processes, available surgical options, role of biomaterials and biologics, and surgical techniques. The hands-on exercises will reinforce the principles presented and allow attendees to practice various surgical techniques on pig jaws and simulation models. Surgical flap design principles, tissue handling, and suture techniques will also be a focus of the workshop.

The Significance of the Peri-Implant Soft Tissue Phenotype (Lecture)

Components of peri-implant soft tissues phenotype
Biological and clinical differences: teeth vs implant

Keratinised Mucosal Width Augmentation: Rationale, Biology, and Techniques (Lecture and workshop)

Apically positioned flap (APF)
APF with free gingival graft (FGG)
Partial-thickness buccally displaced flaps
Roll flaps
Strip gingival graft
Collagen matrix alternatives

Peri-Implant Phenotype Modification: Rationale and Biologic Considerations (Lecture)

Mucosal thickness and supra-crestal tissue height
Emerging non-invasive technologies in diagnosis and follow-up

Diagnostic Decision-Making for Autogenous Free and Vascularised Connective Tissue Grafts (Lecture and workshop)

Indications and case selection
Surgical techniques (CAF, tCAF, Tunnelling, VISTA)
Harvest site management

Hands-on procedures include:

Free and vascularised connective tissue graft harvest
De-epithelialized free gingival graft harvest and preparation
Harvest site management

Soft Tissue Substitutes and Biologics (Lecture and workshop)

Indications and clinical applications
Role of cross-linked collagen matrices in mucosal thickening and supra-crestal tissue height augmentation
Biological background of rh-PDGF-BB
Indications and clinical applications
Patient and case selection
Application of xenogeneic substitutes in soft tissue augmentation

Immediate Implant Placement and Provisionalisation (Lecture and workshop)

Biological principles
Soft tissue management strategies

Peri-Implant soft tissue dehiscence (Lecture and model hands-on)

Diagnosis
Classification
Surgical and prosthetic management

Periodontal – Prosthodontic Interdisciplinary Approach to Health and Aesthetics (Lecture)

Soft tissue management
Pontic site development

Please feel free to bring your loupes to this interactive two day course.