Simultaneous Virtual Planning Implant Surgical Guides and Immediate Laboratory-Fabricated Provisionals: An Impressionless Technique

The use of cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) scanning and virtual implant planning soft-ware has improved the precision of implant therapy.1 This accuracy can be further enhanced by incorporation of intraoral digital scans to the planning process.2,3 Bone height and width, along with anatomical landmarks, can be represented in reference to a precise relationship to the planned restoration, and the use of virtual surgical guides has been shown to provide an increased level of accuracy over freehand implant placement and even conventional surgical guides.4-7 However, it still requires an impression and models to make the provisional restoration. The 3D evaluation of patients for dental implants has opened new avenues to clinicians for accurate and predictable diagnosis and treatment planning in a multidisciplinary patient-based approach to meet the patients' expectations without compromising the treatment outcome.21,22 The technology described in this article facilitates dental implant placement and immediate provisionalization without the inconvenience of conventional dental impressions.