A. Implants can be placed with minimal soft tissue opening provided there is enough bone to make the placement without damaging adjacent structures or puting the implant into the wrong position. The gum is raised for conventional placement to allow direct vision of the site and more accurate placement. The implants you are probably refering to are mini implants. the track record of these isn’t as good as normal implants. I personally prefer to use a normal implant with accurate CT scans of the jaw to allow precise placement with out the need for extensive surgery so you get the best of both worlds.