Guided implant surgery: a printed template, and a much smaller cut

Conventional implant surgery opens the gum to see the bone. Guided surgery, which the clinic calls navigation implant, plans the operation in three dimensions beforehand and then prints a template that constrains the drill to the planned position, so the gum only has to be opened where the fixture is going.

How it is done

The clinic’s sequence is four steps: a digital intraoral scan to establish the optimal placement position, a 3D-printed digital guide, painless anaesthesia and positioning of the tooth site using that guide, and finally placement with the implant drill running through the guide’s sleeve. A 3D CT is taken before all of it, and the simulated surgery is planned on that scan.

What changes

The clinic’s stated comparison with conventional placement is a minimal incision instead of a gum flap, almost no bleeding instead of a lot, minimised pain and swelling with reduced risk of inflammation and infection, an average shortening of the treatment period against a conventional minimum of three to six months, and an immediate return to daily life against one to two weeks of rest.

The two photographs of a sutured flap next to a flapless site are the honest version of that claim, and they are on this page unedited.

Who it is offered to

The clinic recommends it for patients with systemic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, patients who want faster surgery, patients who are frightened of implant surgery, patients needing same-day or full-arch treatment, and patients who have lost many teeth.

Guided against conventional, as the clinic states it

Incision

Minimal, against a gum flap.

Bleeding

Almost none, against a lot.

Pain and infection

Minimised, against pain and swelling with higher infection risk.

Treatment period

Shortened on average, against a minimum of three to six months.

Recovery

Straight back to daily life, against one to two weeks of rest.

Requires

3D CT, intraoral scan, and a printed guide.