When planning dental implant treatment, it’s vital the implants are situated in precisely the right position and is why City Dental uses image-guided surgery for all dental implant treatments. By planning every stage of implant treatment, we can ensure the entire procedure is more successful, smoother, and more comfortable for you.
After your initial consultation for dental implants, we take detailed diagnostic tests, including digital x-rays and a cone beam CT scan. The cone-beam CT scan is especially important, producing high-quality 3-D images of your jaws allowing us to visualize structures that must be avoided during placement. These images allow us to assess the quality of bone available for dental implants and to optimize the use of this bone. We use specialised software to digitally manipulate these images to pinpoint the very best location for each dental implant. Digitally manipulation also allows us to see how your implants will look and function once restored. Once we are happy with a treatment plan, it is transferred from the virtual world into the real-world using a surgical guide.
A surgical guide is a template created from your digital treatment plan for use during surgery. It is a precision-made guide that is placed directly over your gums when your implants are inserted, ensuring each implant is located in precisely the right position identified in your treatment plan. A surgical guide helps us to replicate the treatment plan accurately and eliminates room for error.
Knowing exactly where each implant must be placed ensures the actual surgery is quicker and that we only need to make small incisions in the gums so that healing can be faster and more comfortable. Image-guided surgery ensures we avoid all the important structures such as sinus cavities and nerves during surgery, which is vitally important. Identifying the best location for each implant is critical to ensure your implants are correctly located and angulated to provide excellent aesthetic and functional results. Incorrectly located implants are difficult to restore properly, so they may not look aesthetically pleasing or are not fully or comfortably functional when biting and chewing food.
We plan your image-guided surgery behind the scenes so that you won’t need lengthy appointments. Instead, you can rest assured that when you have your implant surgery, we have carefully pre-planned every step of your treatment.