For many years, Implants were placed with the help of radiographic examination and general knowledge of the oral anatomy of patients. Nowadays, thanks to advances in digital dentistry, all the planning can be done before we insert an implant. With the help of a CBCT (3D radiographic examination) and intra-oral scans of the oral cavity, we are able to pre-plan the size, position, angle and length of the implant before the surgery. All of which cannot be done without the use of digital dentistry.
This has many advantages:
1. Improved clinical results: this gives an ideal position for the implant so that the prosthetic part (e.g. the crown) can be optimised for the patient.
2. Atraumatic and simple surgery: the surgeon's job is faster, more accurate, and most of the time doesn't require opening any surgical flaps, which decreases postoperative symptoms.
3. Peace of mind: surgeons can rest assured that the implant has been placed exactly how they planned it pre-surgically.
Here is an example of a case where we planned everything before the surgery with the help of a CBCT, intra-oral pictures and scans:
The picture above represents the guide that the lab has prepared for us with all of the information given to him by the surgeon and the prosthodontist.
On the surgery day, local anaesthesia was given to the patient and the implant was placed with no surgical flap (meaning that we did not cut the gum open to see the bone underneath)
After the patient is numb, the guide has been placed on the teeth and the implant procedure has started:
The picture shows clearly the point of insertion of the implant. This helps the clinician to get the perfect angle and position of the implant inserted.
Once the implant is placed, a temporary abutment is placed on it so that we can prepare a temporary crown on top. Patients needs to wait 3-6 months for the bone to integrate in the implant before we make the final restorations.
As you can see in this picture above, no extensive surgery cutting has been performed. Therefore, patient will have less postoperative symptoms such as pain or swelling.
A control CT has been taken to confirm the perfect positioning of the implant.
Surgery performed by: Gabriele Gugyte
Photos and Prosthetics by: Amiram Avitan