Discussion:
Implant treatment is a prosthetically driven treatment with a surgical
component. Implant planning and placement in the fully edentulous arch
pose clinical challenges due to an absence of teeth to determine where
ideal implant placement utilizing a prosthetic driven plan would occur.
That information is also absent in virtual implant planning software
unless a diagnostic guide is used during the CBCT scan. The diagnostic
guide discussed can be fabricated in-office utilizing a replica of the
patient’s denture and placement of guide sleeves in that replica prior
to the CBCT scan to provide the ideal prosthetic positions that virtual
planning can utilize when deciding anatomical implant positions. That
information can then be used to correct angulation and position of the
implants to maintain the desired prosthetic positioning for fabrication
of an in-house surgical guide.