TEETH-IN-AN-HOURis a revolutionary concept providing patients with fully functioning teeth on dental implants in one single procedure that lasts approximately one hour. Thistreatment modalitywas recently developed by Nobel Biocare and allows for collaboration between both the restorative dentist and the surgeon. This technology allows for precise, safe implant placement as well as the fabrication of a prosthesis prior to surgery that is delivered immediately once the surgery is completed. The computer-guided implant surgery is done in an arthroscopic fashion ie the gums tissues are not relected andthe actual surgical time of the procedure is significantly reduced compared to traditional implant surgery.This benefits the patient in that there is less postoperative discomfort, less swelling and less bruising. Patients can often resume their normal activities the next day.
The procedure starts by having the dentist fabricate a radiographic guide which is essentially a set up of the patient’s ideal teeth in acrylic. If the patient’s denture has the teeth in their ideal position, the denture may be used as the radiographic guide.A CT scan of the patient’s bone as well asthe radiographic guide are then performed.This CT scan allows for the generation of a three-dimensional model of the jawbone and the proposed teeth that can then be used in virtual reality software to plan the implant placement. Once the implant positions and sizesare determined and planned, the software then generates a special guide from this planning that may be used for 2 purposes: 1) to perform the surgery in a minimally invasive fashion 2) to fabricate the fixed teeth that are placed on the implants right after the surgery.
The video shown is a live surgery performed by Dr. David at an international implant conference.
Dental implants are changing the way people live. They are designed to provide a foundation for replacement teeth that look and function like natural teeth. The person who has lost teeth regains the ability to eat virtually anything, knowing that teeth appear natural and that facial contours will be preserved.
