What is a guided dental implant surgery?

Guided dental implant surgery is when the dental surgeon specialized in dental implants uses advanced and sophisticated equipment and imaging software to create a device or “guide” to be placed on top of the area where the dental implants are planned to be inserted.

This device is designed and elaborated based on the combination of two studies that collect data from the patient’s mouth, not only the remaining teeth structure and soft tissues but also the hard tissues (bone structures) and the nerve terminations.

Medical technology used in guided dental implant surgery:

• CBCT scan
• Intraoral scanner

These two studies are aligned in an image and design software to consider every specific detail and aspect of the patients’ mouth when planning the guided dental implant surgery and create the device for this surgical method.

What are the advantages of a guided dental implant over a conventional freehand method?

• The freehand method has been used for many years, and the rate of success is considerably high especially in ideal cases, but thanks to these new technologies and equipment, we are reducing the margin error to almost zero.
• In guided dental implant surgery, depth and angulation deviation is avoided. This makes the placement of dental implants more efficiently, precisely, and accurately. Thus, there is no need for an incision because all the precise measurements of the bone, nerve terminations, and distances towards the sinus, were measured in advance when digitally planning the surgery. This reduces the chair time, the recovery period, risk of swelling, bleeding, and risk of infection.

Going for a guided method would increase the estimated price?

Surgical guides are not included in the surgical placement of your implant body, but the price represents between 20% and 25% compared to the price of the implant´s surgical phase. Suppose this small percentage of a surgical guide will be elaborated based on the anatomical structures of the jaws, teeth, and surroundings.

Doing so reduces the risk of unexpected complications and increases precision and rate of success. In that case, it is worth the additional cost compared with the benefits that it will bring.

If you are missing single or multiple teeth and are interested in replacing them with dental implants in Tijuana, make sure you ask for more details about the guided method and if it is a good option for you.

Here at Dental Alvarez, our dentists in Tijuana will be more than glad to assist you with any questions you might have about guided dental implants or any other procedure you might be interested in.