Dentist in Kalamata – Athanasios Nikitopoulos
Dental implant surgery can, with the help of technology, also be performed using surgical guides.
Once the implant has essentially been planned, the work can be transferred to the clinical setting using a surgical guide. Surgical guides are computer-designed devices manufactured from acrylic resin through a process called stereolithography. Surgical guides contain steel sleeves with a predetermined diameter to guide the drills during the osteotomy procedure. There are various types of surgical guides, such as a pilot guide, which allows the clinician to create the initial osteotomy. Once the pilot osteotomy has been created, the guide is removed and the rest of the procedure is performed freehand.
Other guides allow the completion of all osteotomy procedures using the entire drill sequence. However, the implant is placed freehand, while there are others that require a guide that allows the entire drilling and implant placement sequence to pass through. Certain protocols include depth control systems that allow the surgeon to control the vertical preparation by using a stop on the drill or at the levels of the sleeve insert.
In addition, surgical guides can be categorized according to the type of stabilization they have, such as tooth-supported, bone-supported, or soft tissue-supported (Fig. 20A, B). Surgical guides for edentulous patients are stabilized through temporary fixation pins that can also be planned using advanced tools within the software packages (see Fig. 20C).
Image thumbnail gr20a
Fig. 20 Surgical guides. Examples of tooth-supported (A) or bone-supported (B) surgical guide designs. (C) Mucosa-supported guide with temporary fixation pins. All of these modern dental implant techniques are provided at our dental practice in Kalamata..