Advances in Surgical Template Design in Dental Implantology

Background: Expansion of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology and improvements in planning software have led to increased accuracy and precision in dental implant positioning and new applications for surgical templates in implantology. The objective of this report is to demonstrate the application of locally printed surgical templates in various dental implant surgeries and site development procedures. Methods: Nine patients were referred to the Department of Periodontics, Army Postgraduate Dental School, Postgraduate Dental College, Fort Eisenhower, GA, USA, for replacement of missing or hopeless teeth using dental implants. All surgeries were planned virtually and completed using customized surgical templates produced within the local facility. The presented cases demonstrate use of surgical templates to simplify surgery across a wide spectrum of clinical scenarios—placement of multiple adjacent implants, immediate implant placement, immediate provisionalization, sinus elevation in dentate and edentulous patients, removal of a retained root fragment in conjunction with implant surgery, alveoloplasty to increase interarch distance, and fully guided implant surgery. Results: In the presented dental implant surgeries, use of locally produced surgical templates permitted transfer of the planned implant positions to the patients with high reliability. Use of surgical templates in sinus elevation procedures ensured augmentation in the appropriate positions and simplified intraoperative management of complex anatomy. Conclusions: Specialized surgical templates have the potential to reduce the duration of surgery, limit patient morbidity, enhance communication among clinicians, and simplify the restorative phase of therapy. Accessibility to new technology has allowed implant surgeons to move beyond the era of accurate implant placement into a period characterized by creative solutions to clinical problems.