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.