Dental implant treatments have evolved significantly, with advanced navigation technology playing a pivotal role in enhancing precision and success rates. This guide explains how navigational technology is transforming dental implant procedures, and what patients need to know to access these advanced treatments.
Understanding Dental Implant Navigation Technology Navigation in dental implantology refers to the use of sophisticated software and imaging techniques that allow dentists to plan and execute implant procedures with unprecedented accuracy. This technology ensures precise implant placement, minimizing risks and improving outcomes.
Benefits of Navigation-Assisted Dental Implants
How Navigation Technology Works
Finding the Right Dental Clinic for Navigation-Assisted Implants
Cost and Accessibility While navigation-assisted dental implants may have a higher upfront cost, they can be more economical in the long run due to their higher success rates and reduced risk of complications.
Preparing for Your Procedure Consult with your dentist to understand the procedure, recovery expectations, and how to prepare for your implant surgery.
Implant dentistry construction can be done today in much more suitable conditions and with much safer methods. Our most important instrument for this is the tomography in dental implant treatments. In other words, they are three-dimensional x-rays taken from the patient.
Thanks to these x-rays, we can see the structure, thickness, and dimensions of the patient’s jawbone with a much more realistic projection, which allows us to place the desired implant on it more easily.
At the same time, we can place the implants in safer areas by seeing and distinguishing the important anatomical structures such as the sinus cavities on the patient’s anatomical cavities and the Mandibular nerves in the lower jaw on these three-dimensional tomographs.
New developments have started with the introduction of digital technologies into dentistry. Three-dimensional tomography is also a digital technology. Moreover, the implant placement and navigation method – which is one of the most advanced techniques – can be used together, likewise we have started to apply this in our clinic especially in recent years.
Navigation works with the same logic of navigation devices that we use in our cars. When we place the implant in the patient’s mouth, it guides how to place the implant in which part of the bone and at what angle, as well as the diameter of the implant and how long the implant is.
The tomography taken of the patient is processed on this navigation device and the appropriate bones are placed on the patient’s three-dimensional bone surface before any operation is performed. After this process, a set of calibration instruments are placed in the patient’s mouth on the day of the operation, and their calibration is ensured.
The tomography taken from the patient is processed on this navigation device and the appropriate bones are placed on the patient’s three-dimensional bone surface before any operation is performed on the patient. After this process, a set of calibration instruments are placed in the patient’s mouth on the day of the operation, and their calibration is ensured.
Thanks to the system followed by cameras in the space plane, our movements and the patient’s jaw structure are transferred to this computer program. And the program sees very clearly where we are on the bone and informs us with warnings, in the form of an image in a target board, at what angle we should place the implant and how far we should place the implant.
While doing this, another advantage we provide to the patient is that the patient does not have an incision in the gingiva in any way, so there is no bleeding and there is no need for the stitches afterward.
There is almost no swelling. It has a very comfortable post-operative period. In general, it is a method of implant placement with navigation.
Along with the three-dimensional tomography technology, several routers that we made using the x-ray technology have entered our lives. By preparing a set of plates that we call the surgical guide with the measurement taken from the patient, fixing these plates in the mouth before the operation, the implant placement directed on these plates have offered us a healthier, safer implant placement away from anatomical spaces.
Today, these technologies are still used as the advanced implant placement technologies. The difficulties that may be experienced during their construction and placement in the mouth can be the dislocation of the plate during the operation or the inability of the plate to be fixed very well. In addition to that, the displacement of a few millimetres while the plate is being placed, can cause a serious adverse effect on the results.
For this reason, implant placement with the navigation we currently use is the most advanced implant placement technology of our time. This is the most comfortable and safest implant placement method that we can apply in the patient’s mouth via combining all the advanced techniques of dentistry with the digital technology.
In fact, it is not much different from the navigation devices you use in vehicles. Just as the navigation guides us when we enter an address, the device used during the implant construction notifies us in the same way. Warnings such as which point to log in and from which angle to apply the visually demonstrates us these.
It visually shows us directly where we are inside the bone as well. And it ends our implant placement with the warnings such as how we should proceed, and where we have come. And if it detects the implant level we have determined with the places or warnings it sends to us, it means that it is convenient to proceed.
In this technology, initially we need a 3D tomography device. Besides this we need a separate device which we call the X Guide, where you apply the navigation technology. We transfer the image that has been obtained from the 3D tomography device directly to the special program on the computer of the navigation device.
And on this program, we determine in which parts of the bone and how we should place the implant on this image. Before our patient even starts the treatment, that is, before he comes to our clinic for his appointment. We detect angles. We place all of these on this program, namely in the virtual environment, at which angle we should cross the places.
Where the bone is most dense, away from the anatomical spaces, in a way that does not touch the nerves.How many implants we will make, these procedures are performed one by one for all of them.
Later, when our patient comes to the clinic, we activate the navigation device when we start the procedure. Calibrations are done. The calibration parts in the patient’s mouth and the calibration parts in the machine. We use and implant implants are matched to each other with the cameras inside the device under the special purple light of this device.
Therefore, the patient’s head is calibrated by our hand in a way that equates the work. We have done on the machine’s computer with each other. And then, when we start the process, the machine automatically starts the navigation device process by informing us the entry point. Entry angle and length of the implant that we have placed before. And it guides us through our work.
Surely, we do not cut the patient’s gums to perform these procedures, because our entry point is clear. This is a huge comfort. We do not wonder what kind of bone underneath is, because we already know thanks to the device.
Therefore, we place the implant directly without cutting the gum in any way. Afterwards, the stitches are not removed and there is no bleeding. An edema does not occur on the patient.
As a result of this, we get rid of all the post-operative problems that may occur after implantation. We offer the patient a more comfortable and safer implant treatment process.
We have started to experience a very new technological union in digital dentistry. The cooperation between intraoral scanners and navtech company provides a great convenience to our patients.
We have been using 3shape in our clinic for many years, especially as an intraoral scanner. We have been using the products of the company X nav, which let us make implants with navigation in our clinic since 2019.
Therefore, we have already achieved these advantages by using this technology together for two years. Recently, these two digital world giants have created a working model together.
First of all, the tomography 3D images that have been taken from the patient and the digital measurement that has been scanned with 3shape from the patient’s mouth are brought together in the virtual environment.
Thanks to the special programs, before any action is taken when our patient comes to the clinic. If he has teeth in his mouth, he will lose his job. And in the new plan, without doing any work. First of all, thanks to all digital measurements, we have the whole image of the patient in our hands.
The bone images are also available. By overlapping them, we obtain the entire mouth model in three dimensions of the soft tissue images, teeth and bone of our patient.
This method brings us an ease of work. Since we can easily see every anatomical space, soft tissue, and bone environment while planning, we can virtually place our implants on the most suitable and safest places.
Later, we would place them in the mouth on the same planned dimensions and angles. Accordingly, the post-operative images of the patient would actually be available for us before the patient approaches.
Through these implants we place in the virtual environment, we can produce the temporary chrome for the patient’s temporary bridge in the laboratory with the size we have.
In other words, when the patient comes to our Clinic. It is clear what position we will be in after the operation to be performed that day. And there are temporary devices in our Clinic.
In other words, the patient starts the operation, has his teeth extracted, places his implant, and then places the temporary chrome or temporary bridge in his mouth and leaves our Clinic with his new teeth. This is the best and safest method available to the patient in digital technology.
Of course, since these advantages are applied with the least operation time. The patient spends postoperatively without any pain. Bleeding or swelling complaints.