Are Healing Caps on dental implants necessary?

Healing caps allow the gums to take on proper form so that when the crown is placed on the implant it looks like a natural tooth. If you skip this step then the final crown may not look like a tooth that is emerging naturally out of the gums.

Healing caps also prevent down growth of the gum into the implant, making removal of the tissue necessary before an impression can be made. This greatly increases the difficulty of getting accurate impressions and commits the patient to another surgical procedure. If the implant is in the front of the mouth where the healing cap would be seen, a temporary crown can be fabricated to hide the cap. In my opinion, it is a necessary part of the implant procedure. The oral surgeon I refer to, to place implants would probably decline to treat a patient who refused a healing cap.

While one COULD skip this step, the result may not be what was desired.  The healing cap allows us to determine the contours of the gums and how to have the lab shape the contours of the final crown.