A dental implant arrangement and method has a hollow shell with outer bio-compatible surface for engaging a soft-tissue socket that is left in gingival tissue after a tooth has been extracted, to promote healing. The shell tapers outwardly from a first to a second perimeter, the second perimeter being asymmetrically scalloped with opposite distal and mesial peaks and opposite lingual and facial valleys between the peaks. A dental implant in the bone socket left after tooth extraction is rigidly connected to a temporary post, the temporary post extending in the shell. A luting compound fills the volume between shell and post and solidifies, thereby connecting shell to post and indirectly to the dental implant with no other connection between the shell and the implant so that the outer surface of the shell engages against the soft-tissue socket without gaps and without requiring alignment between the shell and implant axes.