Prosthetic Surgical Templates and Dental Implant Site Time Preparation: An In Vitro Study

Numerous types of prosthodontics surgical guides, with and without metallic sleeves, have been found to be useful in clinical studies. The aim of this in vitro research was to compare the time required to complete the surgical procedure with two differently designed surgical prosthetic templates. Ten identical prototype models of mandible based on a CBCT and optical scan of a partially edentulous patient with missing teeth numbers 37, 46, and 47 were prepared and then printed. Five of these models were used for implant site preparation with a surgical guide without metal sleeves and dedicated surgical kit, and the other five models were used for the same procedure performed with a surgical guide with metal sleeves and a dedicated surgical kit. The time of implant site preparation was measured and recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t-test for independent samples. Differences between groups were found to be statistically significant (t = −9.94; df = 28; p = 0.0000) with a lower value in favor of the surgical templates without metallic sleeves. Different types of prosthodontics surgical guides, with or without metallic sleeves, seemed to be an important factor which can significantly impact the time of implant site preparation and, therefore, the overall surgical procedure.