Dental technology has seen many incredible changes in recent years. All of these technological developments have provided us with incredible ways to improve how we perform some different procedures as well as the outcomes of these procedures. We can perform treatments faster, more accurately, and with significantly less discomfort for you.
At Greater Charlotte Oral and Facial Surgery, one of the technologies that we use to provide you with the best possible oral care is guided implant surgery.
What is Guided Surgery?
Guided surgery is a revolutionary technique that takes treatment planning one step further. In addition to being able to plan your surgical procedure, we can visualize the steps of the process and create customized surgical drilling templates to provide you with the best possible outcome.
Guided surgery combines CT scan technology and CAD/CAM technology to provide you with unmatched accuracy when it comes to the placement of your implants and your dental restorations. With guided surgery, we can minimize the risk of complications by predetermining the placement of dental implants as well as the optimal angle and depth.
The Process of Guided Surgery
Before undergoing your dental implant surgery, we first take a CT scan of your mouth. This scan takes a 3D image of your mouth, which is displayed almost immediately on a computer screen. The scan shows us a highly detailed view of all structures, including the bone, the healthy teeth, sinus and nasal cavities, and nerves. We are then able to use specialized software to manipulate your scan in some different ways. The image can be rotated several different directions so that we can see your mouth from multiple angles.
We can zoom in on specific areas and enhance the scan for clarity.
We can also plan the optimal placement of your dental restorations to provide you with the best possible aesthetic results.
The CT scan helps us to then design and create a unique surgical guide based on your specific needs. This guide is incredibly precise as to the placement of your implant posts and the placement of your dental restorations.
The technology provides us with a step-by-step guide, showing us the steps we need to take before we take them, increasing predictability and reducing discomfort, providing a much better patient experience. Following the placement of your implant posts, we can either immediately load your dental restorations or place temporary teeth for loading after you have fully healed from oral surgery.
Advantages of Guided Surgery
Guided surgery provides several benefits, including:
| • | Greater precision and higher accuracy of implant and restoration placement. |
| • | Increased predictability during surgery. Because we can see every step of your treatment, the process becomes much more predictable and much safer, allowing us to reduce your risk of surgical complications both during treatment and after. |
| • | We create customized surgical guides based on your mouth and your specific needs. |
| • | Guided surgery is generally faster than freehand. |
| • | Healing times are often reduced. |
| • | Precise placement of your implants greatly increases the success of your treatment. |
With guided surgery, we can improve the accuracy of your implant placement, greatly increasing the success of your implants.
Guided Dental Implant Surgery in Charlotte
For more information on guided surgery, call Greater Charlotte Oral and Facial Surgery at (980) 332-7990 today, or contact us at one of our locations!
