Abstract: The dental prosthesis is adapted for insertion into a socket formed within the patient's jaw. It comprises an elongated shaft defining a proximal region, a distal region, and a tip. A soft porous pad extends distally from the shaft tip. The distal region is preferably biocompatible, porous, soft, resilient, deformable, tissue-ingrowth promoting, and has a compressive stress per unit of strain which is substantially smaller than that of adjacent bone.