2018 Volume 27 Issue 4 Pages 359-362
Real-time three-dimensional navigation images can facilitate minimally invasive and accurate surgery. The aim of this study was to clarify the usefulness of a real-time three-dimensional navigation system for removal of dental implants. The authors designed a retrospective study and analyzed patients who underwent implant removal surgery with a real-time three-dimensional navigation guide under general anesthesia. Six patients (age, 64.3 ± 8.8 years) were included in this study. The procedures involved the maxilla and the mandible in four and two patients, respectively. The implant bodies were adjacent to the maxillary sinus or nasal cavity in all the maxillary cases, and to the mandibular canal in both mandibular cases. Adjacent implant bodies and adjacent teeth that had to be preserved were noted in 1 and 5 cases, respectively. All cases required elevation of a mucoperiosteal flap for removal of the implant bodies, and five cases required removal of the alveolar bone. No postoperative complications were observed, and the adjacent teeth and implants could be preserved in all cases. This study suggests that a real-time three-dimensional navigation system under general anesthesia is useful for dental implant removal surgery in cases with no absorption of alveolar bone around the implant bodies, cases wherein the implant bodies have migrated into an inappropriate position, and cases with adjacent teeth or implant bodies that have to be preserved intact.
