2008 Volume 42 Issue 2 Pages 113-120
Placement of dental implants requires precise planning that accounts for anatomic limitations and restorative goals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vitro the accuracy of implant placement with the implant guide system developed by Koyanagi.
Ten dentists, five of whom were experienced and five of whom were inexperienced in implant surgery, placed the implants on identical models of the mandible using surgical templates fabricated based on data acquired from CT images. The preoperative CT images were compared with postoperative images to assess the differences between the planned and installed implants with respect to inclination, positions of the base and tip, and insertion depth of the implant.
The average inclination discrepancy between the planned and installed implants was 0.73° in the mesiodistal direction and 1.02° in the buccolingual direction. The average deviation of the base position was 0.36 mm in the mesiodistal direction, and 0.06 mm in the buccolingual direction. The average deviation of tip position was 0.23 mm in the mesiodistal direction, 0.06 mm in the buccolingual direction. The average deviation of insertion depth was 0.43 mm. The variances in mesiodistal direction of inclination, buccolingual position of the tip, and depth of insertion for the inexperienced operators were significantly greater than those for the experienced operators.
This in vitro study of application of the implant guide system indicated improved precision of surgical placement of the implants regardless of the experience of the operator.
