What Is a Surgical Guide for Dental Implants?
The thought of undergoing a surgical procedure can be unsettling for anyone, regardless of the location of the surgery. However, sometimes surgery is the best and only way to achieve the kind of results you want. In dentistry, the best way to replace your teeth permanently is by getting dental implants, which entail a surgical procedure.
What Are Dental Implants?
They are oral appliances that replace missing teeth. Dental implants feature small screw-like titanium metal posts that dentists erect in the jawbone at the site of the lost tooth. Usually, dentists use implants to replace tooth roots, then employ a different oral appliance to restore the chewing surfaces of teeth.
A dentist near you can use a dental crown, denture, or bridgework to crown an implant. Either way, when the dentist completes your procedure, the implant will feel and look like the rest of your existing natural teeth.
What Is a Surgical Guide?
It is a computer-generated guide linking the treatment plan and the actual surgery. The primary purpose of a surgical guide is to help the oral surgeon drill the tooth implants into your bone with optimal accuracy and precision. The surgical guide uses a computer-guided 3D implant planning system that works with impressions of your mouth for optimal results.
IMPLANT SURGICAL GUIDE: Procedure & Diagnosis
Surgical guides are fairly new concepts in dentistry, helping dental experts transition from the past into the present. The traditional way of placing dental implants in the jawbone entails cutting open the gums, then drilling the jawbone to create room for the implant.
Making such projections during an implantation surgery means that the dentist must rely on a 2D x-ray to master the appropriate locations of nerves, sinuses, or the floor of the nose. These calculations are important for achieving success in implantation surgery. They also help determine the length and width of implant necessary to replace your tooth.
The implant surgical guide makes things easier and swifter to do. Its primary focus is to replicate the exact surfaces of your oral cavity. Firstly, your dentist will employ the 3D x-ray to determine the implant’s most suitable location and positioning. (S)he will then take digital 3D impressions of the top and bottom teeth while accounting for the space of the lost tooth.
The dentist will also digitally determine an implant’s suitable length and width to position the jawbone. All these steps will occur before the surgery begins. Once all this planning is in place, when the time for actualizing the plans comes, the surgeon works faster and more effectively to drill the metal implant in your jawbone.
How Do I Know If I Need a Surgical Guide?
Benefits of a Surgical Guide
There are many reasons why guided surgery for implants is advantageous, including the following:
- Increased accuracy – an oral surgeon work with better precision when using a surgical guide than not. The surgical guide allows the dentist to place the titanium metal post in a pre-planned location, getting the depth and angulation of the implant right.
- Reduces surgery time – the more meticulous and precise your implant dentist is, the less time (s)he uses for doing the surgery.
- Reduces trauma – the accuracy and thoroughness in conducting the surgery will significantly benefit your oral health. When the dentist is working at an elevated level of precision, they reduce the chances of cutting or damaging healthy surrounding tissue. The result is reduced trauma, which directly translates to decreased swelling and pain on your part. It may even lead to a shorter recovery period post-surgery.
- High success rates – although oral surgeons at Implant Dentistry by Doc Rok have always been confident about performing successful implantation surgeries, the rates are higher with surgical guides. Dentists can avoid miscalculations that may cause unintended damage to your oral cavity.
Summary
Surgical guides for implantation procedures are a positive step toward effective and efficient dental care in modern dentistry. The guides take care of both the dental experts and the patients.
While dentists enjoy increased precision, speed, and success in their oral surgeries, patients enjoy pain-free, swift, and smooth surgeries. Besides, doesn’t it give you an extra confidence boost to know that your oral surgeon has an increased chance of success due to innovation and technology?