BACKGROUND: To date, clinical studies have mainly focused on early loading of mandibular implants. Recently, there has also been considerable interest in early loading of maxillary implants. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to report the outcome of maxillary implants loaded after a 3-month healing period and followed up to 5 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventeen patients (11 males and 6 females) received 44 Astra Tech implants (Mölndal, Sweden) for treatment of single-tooth (13 cases) and partial edentulism (9 cases). The patients were followed up to 5 years after implant placement: 50% of the implants were followed for 3 years and 16% have been followed throughout the observation period. Preoperatively, bone height and width were assessed on radiographs. Marginal bone loss was recorded on intraoral radiographs annually. RESULTS: No implant was lost during the observation period. The average marginal bone loss was 0.5 +/- 0.7 mm after 1 year, 0.6 +/- 0.7 mm after 3 years, and 0.9 +/- 1.6 mm after 5 years. There were no soft-tissue or prosthetic failures recorded during the observation period. CONCLUSION: Early loading of Astra Tech implants was highly successful in maxillary partial and single-tooth cases followed up to 5 years in function.