On a narrow alveolar ridge, clinicians use 2 main techniques for implantation: 1. Alveolar Ridge Preservation (ARP): Filling the empty tooth socket with bone substitute material and placing the implant later. 2. Early implant placement with Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR): Placing the implant 4-8 weeks after tooth extraction and performing GBR at the same time. Both approaches aim to create enough bone for proper implant placement. However, it remained unclear which would be more effective for bone regeneration around a dental implant in either damaged or intact tooth sockets of narrow alveolar ridges. The present study found that while ARP with delayed implant placement can reduce changes in the alveolar ridge after tooth extraction, early implant placement with simultaneous GBR results in better bone growth compared to ARP in both damaged and intact areas, making GBR a more effective approach for bone regeneration.