A successful outcome of implant therapy includes a combination of many factors that affect this process. Success rates for dental implants depend mainly on the thorough preparation for surgery, the choice of high-quality implants, the professional skills of dental specialists and careful surgical planning. Therefore it is very important for a doctor to have all necessary equipment, techniques and devices.
One of those devices is a surgical template used to assist in proper surgical placement. The surgical template is made of plastic in advance and shows the surgeon the position of the future prosthesis. Thus, the surgeon achieves the goal of ideal implant positioning and accurate surgical results.
“Plastic molds” are made after the first appointment with your dentist. A CT scan creates a three-dimensional picture which is used to produce a cast model with an accurate position for future implants. A computer program analyses and measures all relationships, the depth and angles for ideal implant position. All these parameters are sent to the 3-D printer or dental laboratory, where a “simulation” of the desired treatment is created from self-hardening plastic mass.
Surgical templates are generally supported by the remaining teeth, the mucosa and the bone. The surgeon decides what type of the template is optimally suited in a particular clinical situation. The most important thing is that the implant procedure based on the use of the surgical templates, is a very accurate and predictable surgery, as templates help to minimize deviations in the placement of implants.
Surgical templates for placing dental implants are beneficial for both the doctor and the patient, because the path of the surgery become the undeniable advantage. Since the position of the implant is accurately determined in advance, it is not necessary to make preparation of the mucous membrane, that accelerates the whole healing process after surgery. The human factor is minimized because the calculation is made by the computer program that reduces the risk of medical errors. A temporary prosthesis is fabricated by the template and placed immediately after the implant is inserted – it is not necessary to wait the next visit to the doctor. This creates a psychological comfort for the patient.
Surgical templates save also the patient’s money, as allow to properly distribute the load on the implants. They are used in number of 4-6 units. In addition, due to the accuracy the surgery, the period of osseointegration in favorable conditions is shortened. Dental implant surgery based on the surgical templates is performed under local anesthesia. It takes one and a half hours.
The specialists of the company Bio3 Implants recommend to use surgical templates in the fully edentulous patients, when it is very difficult to determine the exact location for the implant in the smile zone in order to achieve maximum aesthetic results.