Today, guided surgery is redefining standards for predictability, efficiency, and clinical success in dental implant therapy. With implant therapy becoming increasingly patient-specific and digitally integrated, guided surgery enables clinicians to reduce risk, improve accuracy, and streamline workflows like never before.
Whether you are managing a perceived “straight-forward” single implant or a complex full-arch rehabilitation, surgical guides can and should play a key role in your approach.
Why Guided Surgery Is No Longer Optional
Reducing Margin for Error
Conventional freehand surgery, while still widely practiced, leaves room for variance. Guided surgery minimizes that variance by translating digital planning into precise, physical execution. Following industry-proven protocols, guided surgery provides many benefits, such as:
• Accurately control implant angulation, depth, and position
• Reduce surgical time
• Avoid critical anatomical structures
• Improve aesthetic outcomes
• Increase patient trust and satisfaction
Consistency Across Cases
The ability to produce predictable outcomes—even in challenging anatomical scenarios—is one of the most compelling reasons to adopt a guided approach. Guided surgery allows you to perform virtual surgery and model multiple scenarios of implant placement, grafting materials and the ideal restorative components and outcome. Whether you’re working on a tissue-borne guide for a fully edentulous case, a tooth-borne guide for a single posterior implant or a bone borne stackable solution for FP1, FP2 or FP3 scenarios, a guided digital workflow increases precision without compromising flexibility.
Power of Communication
It is easy to only focus on the clinical benefits, but guided surgery greatly impacts your ability to increase case acceptance by showing the patient their exact treatment plan in 3D which helps them understand the procedures. In addition, patients appreciate the fact that you have
done your “homework” and created a customized plan just for them!
The ability to quickly share treatment plans and digital files with your case partners and dental lab also improves outcomes and creates efficient communication.
Choosing the Right Type of Surgical Guide
Tooth-Borne Guides
At Implant Concierge, over 75% of our guided cases are tooth-borne guides. They are for partially edentulous patients and can be used for immediate placement scenarios, with or without tissue reflection. These guides offer excellent accuracy by using existing teeth for stabilization.
Tooth-Borne Guides
At Implant Concierge, over 75% of our guided cases are tooth-borne guides. They are for partially edentulous patients and can be used for immediate placement scenarios, with or without tissue reflection. These guides offer excellent accuracy by using existing teeth for stabilization.
Tissue-Borne Guides
Designed for fully edentulous patients. While soft tissue variability can affect precision, using anchor pins and capturing diagnostic data carefully improves the fit of the guide and stability.
Bone-Borne Guides
Ideal for full-arch or reconstructive cases where neither teeth nor tissue can offer proper support. These guides require full flap access and are accurate because they fit directly onto the buccal/crestal/lingual bone morphology and are stabilized with anchor pins directly through the buccal wall.
Anchor Pin Guides
Used in cases where patients are either terminally dentate or fully edentulous. It provides an excellent solution for full arch dental restorations that require minimal to no bone reduction, such as FP1 or FP2 prosthetic designs.
Bone Reduction Guides
Reserved for full-arch and complex cases that require bone reduction prior to implant placement to achieve proper restorative space. These guides allow precise, efficient bone alveoloplasty and implant placement, minimizing surgical time and complications. The cases are most popular for FP3 cases, however bone reduction guides or stackable guides can be used for FP1 cases when no bone reduction is required. Their secure and stable fit to the buccal bone provides a foundation for bone scalloping, implant placement and positioning of an immediate guided prosthetic.
Diagnostic Data: The Foundation of Success
A surgical guide is only as good as the data it’s based on. At Implant Concierge, we prioritize full-scope planning supported by:
• Full-arch CBCT scans taken out of occlusion (partially edentulous & terminally dentate)
• Intraoral scans or diagnostic casts with no bubbles or drag and includes vestibular detail
• Photographs for esthetic and restorative guidance
For edentulous cases, a dual-scan protocol using radiopaque markers is essential for accurate data merging.
Single-Source Fabrication: Why It Matters
When every phase of the surgical guide workflow is controlled by a single-source provider, from planning, designing, and printing, the quality control standards and predictability are higher. This reduces wait times, eliminates communication gaps, and ensures that every component of the guided surgery workflow is aligned with the surgeon’s intent.
At Implant Concierge, every guide is bonded with medical-grade adhesive, light-cured, and quality-checked by technicians who understand both surgical and prosthetic needs.
Immediate Solutions for Increased Efficiency
For clinicians who perform immediate placement cases, Implant Concierge offers temporary restorative solutions that integrate seamlessly with our guides:
Custom Tissue Formers & Screw-Retained Crowns
• Custom Tissue Formers for posterior sites or immediate extract/ immediate place scenarios support and maintain the contour of the tissue during healing
• Full Contoured Screw-retained Crowns allow patients to maintain function and aesthetics during healing while also supporting and contouring the tissue
Full-Arch Passive Fit Bridges & Immediate Dentures
• Full-arch passive fit bridge intended for immediate chair-side pickup using dual-cure material
• Immediate Surgical Denture that can be soft-relined or converted chairside
These options reduce chair time and allow a dentist to execute their entire virtual restorative based treatment plan while enhancing the patient’s experience.
Guided Doesn’t Mean Rigid
Guided surgery is not a replacement for clinical judgment—it’s an instrument that enhances it. The goal is not to remove the art or skill from implant dentistry but to empower it with science, technology and precision. With the proper planning, accurate digital data, and a carefully selected guided surgery partner, you can elevate your implant workflow and confidently deliver
superior outcomes—every time.
Ready to streamline your next case?
Start planning with Implant Concierge and experience a smarter, more predictable way to place implants.
