Foremost is eliminating the need to grind down the perfectly good adjacent teeth to serve as support teeth for the bridge.   Grinding down the adjacent teeth to serve as abutments increases the risk for pulp or nerve exposure, increasing the chance for tooth loss, or at the very least, sensitivity and predisposition to recurrent decay.  With an implant placed only where the missing or failed tooth exists, the adjacent teeth are not touched and are not required to support the missing crown.

Almost as important, very little recession of the gum occurs when an implant is placed immediately into the extraction socket, which would certainly occur otherwise.  This is because the bone formally surrounding the tooth remains if an implant is placed, but resorbs (atrophies) significantly if not, producing a very real esthetic challenge should a bridge be placed.

In this image the implant has been placed into the existing extraction socket, gently and firmly.  We would then place an extension above the gum (abutment), attaching into the implant for a secure and permanent replacement for the failed tooth, and simultaneously place an esthetic temporary crown.  The bone and gum do not recede or atrophy significantly, as a result, but regenerate to grow to the implant.