**1. Introduction**

Peri-implant soft tissue (PST) thickness and width of keratinized mucosa (KM) have a major impact on the esthetic appearance, stability, and health of implant/prosthetic reconstruction. Dental implants were introduced 50 years ago as a treatment modality for edentulous patients and, later on, for partially edentulous patients with shortened arches and single-tooth gaps [1]. Until lately, the success of implant treatment was based on implant survival rates, prosthetic stability, radiographic bone loss, and absence of infection [2, 3]. Today, patients' implant treatment expectations have changed. They have shifted from healthy and functional to healthy, functional, esthetic, and naturallooking tooth replacement [4]. Consequently, the PST augmentation procedure became a fundamental part of implant treatment algorithms.

There are two main objectives of soft tissue augmentation around implants—(1) to restore an adequate width of KM and (2) to increase the volume of peri-implant soft tissue [5].
