Surgical Guides
With so many options available and so much marketing involved one can easily become lost as to which guide is the right one.
Guided surgery technology does allow clinicians to more precisely place implants for more predictable prosthetic outcomes. However, clinicians must keep in mind the principles and foundations of implantology, which must guide them in the use of this technology as the surgical guide should be considered a template only.
A surgical guide is essentially a transfer tool. Its purpose is to transfer the diagnostic and planning of both surgical and prosthetic facets of treatment from the planning stage to the patient during surgery. The entire process hinges on the accurate acquisition of specific data that provides the diagnostic information necessary for planning.
Diagnostic information needed to produce a guide…
- Radiological data, which is obtained from a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT Scan).
- Intraoral surface data, which can be provided by means of impressions or intraoral scanning technologies.
- Surgical plan data containing the implants positions.
The combination of radiological, intraoral surface and implant position data will provide the necessary information for the manufacturing of the surgical guide.
The support of the surgical guide is critical to the guides stability and precision.
Guide Support Types…
- Tooth Supported Guides – Make use of the remaining teeth to anchor the surgical guide in place.
- Tissue/Mucosa Supported Guides – Support is established utilizing the soft tissue and fixation pins are directly inserted in the bone to help stabilize the guide.
- Bone Supported Guides – Will necessarily be in direct contact with the bone and fixation pins are directly inserted in the bone to help stabilize the guide.
The Pros and Cons of Guided Implant Surgery
Guided implant surgery uses the patient’s CT data to diagnose the patient beforehand and can mimic the surgery according to the surgery plan.
The advantages of guided implant surgery are as follows:
- Surgery can be precise, safe, predictable and shorter
- Immediate loading in appropriate cases
- Less invasion, flapless in appropriate cases
- Improved prosthetic results
- Bone grafts can be minimized
The disadvantages of guided implant surgery are as follows:
- When doing a flapless surgery, the patient’s bone situation cannot be assessed
- The surgery planning time takes longer
- Any unexpected situations during surgery can provide challenges
- Cost
Need a resource for CBCT Scans? Reliable offers CBCT scanning services at the lab for your convenience.