Is Immediate Functional Loading Too Risky?

A recent report by the Millennium Research Group, stated that though the proportion of dental implants delivered in a 1-stage method was 60.8% in the first quarter of 2006, whereas immediate functional loading (IFL) was practiced in only 9.0% of all dental implant procedures.

Millennium comments that despite the potential benefits to patients, “the adoption of immediate functional loading (IFL) has been sluggish because of practitioners’ fears of implant complications and failure.” In fact, some surgeons maintain that excessive stress on the dental implant before sufficient osseointegration of the implant in the jaw often leads to implant failure. What are your thoughts on immediate functional loading? Do you think the procedure will gain more acceptance over time or is the risk of failure too great to warrant use of this technique on a wider scale?