Surgical guides have long been used to help dentists record implant locations and angulations for dentures and bridges. With the advent of computer-assisted tomography, dentists can map the patient’s available bone, placement of prosthetic teeth, and bite impression and produce a surgical guide before the patient undergoes any procedure.
However, currently available surgical guide techniques have certain shortcomings—some require multiple guides for different-sized drilling, are unstable, or do not record the rotational position of implants, whereas others have accounted for these issues but do not allow custom molds and abutments to be made, resulting in inaccurate or poorly fitting prostheses. In the most recent issue of the Journal of Oral Implantology, Trevor Bavar, DDS, presents a new technique that resolves these deficiencies. This technique uses a single guide with reduction sleeves to accommodate different-sized drilling, records implant positioning and angles on the guide and creates an index, generates custom copings and abutments, and emplaces an acrylic temporary yet aesthetic bridge in one visit. Using the custom measurements from the index and bite registration, the final prosthetic can be created, and the completed bridge can be installed in just 3 noninvasive follow-up visits. Using this index and guide system, surgical specialists and restorative dentists can work separately or as a team to address aesthetic, prosthetic, and implant needs simultaneously.
(Source: Allen Press, January 7, 2009. Available at allepress.com/pdf/-ORIM34.610.15631548-1336-34.6.pdf
