3.

Early compared with immediate loading of dental implants
Patient or population: patients requiring dental implants Settings: dental practice Intervention: immediate loading Comparison: early loading
Outcomes	Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI)		Relative effect (95% CI)	No of participants (studies)	Quality of the evidence (GRADE)	Comments
	Assumed risk	Corresponding risk
	Early	Immediate
Prosthesis failure at 1 year	Low risk population		RR 0.69 (0.25 to 1.87)	408 (4)	+OOO2, 3 very low
	50 per 10001	35 per 1000 (13 to 94)
	High risk population
	240 per 1000	163 per 1000 (60 to 446)
*The basis for the assumed risk (e.g. the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% CI) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI).

1. The prosthetic failure rate in the conventional loading group is 1.2%

2. Four trials: one trial high, one unclear and two at low risk of bias

3. There is some evidence of publication bias

CI = confidence interval 
 RR = risk ratio 
 GRADE Working Group grades of evidence: 
 High quality (++++): Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect. 
 Moderate quality (+++O): Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate. 
 Low quality (++OO): Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate. 
 Very low quality (+OOO): We are very uncertain about the estimate.