Dental implants are a uniquely stable and effective solution for missing teeth. They are surgically embedded in your jawbones designed to function just like natural teeth.
With new technologies stepping in, the world of oral implantology has experienced great developments, specifically with less invasive and more effective dental implant techniques such as computer-guided surgery.
Computer-guided dental implant surgery at Dr Michael’s allows our surgeons to place implants in a safe, precise and predictable manner. This technology eliminates all the guesswork involved in determining which site on the jawbone is best to place the implants.
Now, we can do implants without surgical flaps (small incisions into the gum tissue to allow visualisation of the bone's shape and location). This makes our patients’ postoperative recovery virtually nonexistent - no bleeding and no sutures.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Dental Implants have an overall success rate of about 95%.
Function
With dental implants, the patient can recover his chewing function and prevent bone loss that happens over time. In addition, carrying an implant makes the force exerted on the teeth spread out alleviating overload problems of the jaw joint.
Aesthetics
The patient recovers his smile as well as his confidence in speaking and chewing in public. Implants also allow us to recover one or more teeth independently, without negatively affecting the adjacent teeth as in the case of fixed dental bridges.
What is Guided Surgery?
With the use of advanced 3D technology, guided surgery allows the surgeon to place the implants in a previously planned area in its exact place and with greater accuracy. This approach has significantly simplified the procedure for both patients and surgeons.
Using a specialised software for implants, surgeons can make a preliminary simulation of how implants will be placed in the mandible or maxilla of the patient, all of this will happen before the day of the intervention. This enables us to do the procedure calculated down to the last detail with practically zero margin of error.
How do surgeons place implants with guided surgery?
The procedure begins by taking molds of the patient’s teeth in the clinic. The plaster models are then sent to the lab to build a radiographic template. This radiographic template is nothing but a small device placed in the patient’s mouth to determine if the desired implant position is possible. If not, this template can help the surgeon make decisions on how to augment a surgical site. These templates are easily and inexpensively made in our clinics.
The patient will get a CBCT scan, and this is also done at the same day in our own clinic. Once made, we're ready to start planning the implant placement. There is no need to see the patient until the day of the intervention.
Since we have all the images of the jaw and bone anatomy in our screen, we are able to carefully study and choose the most suitable implant location. We also get to view the most ideal place for dentures or crowns in the future. All these are planned with respect to all the surrounding anatomical barriers like the nerves or sinus.
Once the planning process is done, the laboratory will send us a customised surgical guide or template that will be placed in the patient’s mouth during surgery. This template has accurately measured holes that show where the implants should be placed.
What are the advantages of guided surgery over traditional implant placement?
- It saves a lot of time. A major concern of patients is the idea of having their mouths open for a long time all throughout the surgery. Surgery time is considerably reduced because guided surgery allows for a much shorter intervention.
- It eliminates the need for detachment of the gums thus preventing tissue trauma, bleeding and post-surgical discomfort.
- Recovery is much better. Patients can resume their normal activity after the surgery.
- Guided surgery lets surgeons put crowns or dentures in the ideal screwed retained position improving the biomechanics and the function of these implants.
With thanks to Dr Fernando Arroyo Meneses, General Dentist and Implantologist at Dr Michael's Dental Clinic. Visit www.drmichaels.com.