X-Guide Photogrammetry and chairside 3D printing- a game changer for teeth in a day

Since Robin started placing implants over 20 years ago, there’s been huge technological advances to make this surgery minimally invasive, safer, faster and incredibly accurate with better positioning. This has been achieved with scans and planning software and of course the X-Guide for fully navigated pre-planned surgery. However, it has always been difficult and time consuming in ‘teeth in a day’ cases to make temporary teeth that fit accurately over the newly placed implants and not disturb them-implants can fail if the temporary teeth are not perfectly fitting. And it has been extremely difficult to do this minimally invasively. UNTIL NOW!

We now have the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle with photogrammetry and 3D printing and this is COMING SOON to Wayside.

For full arch ‘same day teeth’ this will mean:

• Only two appointments on the day of surgery- surgery and fit.
• No requirement for a lab technician to be on site.
• Teeth in a few hours rather than a whole day.
• Minimally invasive surgery.
• Perfect fitting temporary teeth made at Wayside and designed to protect the implants.
• Immediate replacement if the bridge should break before the final teeth can be fitted (usually 6 months after surgery).

The Wayside workflow-

• As usual the surgery is pre-planned with a CBCT and intra-oral scan. At this point, a draft plan of the temporary teeth will be made too.
• Surgery will be minimally invasive with incisions (tiny ones with a laser) only where the implants are going to be placed. There is no requirement for extensive gum surgery.
• Surgery will be fully guided and thus highly accurate (within 0.2mm and less than 1 degree of deviation of the plan).
• Once the implants are in place, the X-Guide will use photogrammetry (with the cameras it uses for navigated surgery) to make a record of the exact position of the implants and relate these positions to the scans and data we already have. These records are combined into one file to email to a technician to do the final plan for the temporary teeth. Since a draft plan is there already, and all the technician is waiting for is the exact implant positions, this will take minutes rather than hours.
• The plan is emailed back to us, and this plan is sent to our 3D printer to print the temporary bridge. The printing takes 30-45 minutes.
• This bridge will fit perfectly with no uncomfortable or time-consuming adjustments.
• The bridge will be designed to protect the implants while they integrate into your bone.

What is photogrammetry?

Photogrammetry is the science of making accurate surveys using photographs (thousands of them) taken from many angles by more than one camera and in layers to create accurate records and measurements. Traditionally it has been used for mapping and surveying. But with the advent of 3D printing, it is now used to ‘map’ physical objects we want to print. In implant dentistry we are mapping the implant positions, and it is the most precise and accurate method of recording the position of multiple implants.

It is a game changer in dentistry as conventional impression methods have many inherent factors which affect accuracy. Also, these traditional impressions can be very uncomfortable.

What is 3D printing?

3D printing is the process of making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model. It lays down many thin layers of material in succession to create the object. The largest thing to be 3D printed was a 25m boat! Dental 3D printers are of course much smaller!

The data we can get from scans and photogrammetry allows us to make digital 3-dimensional models that we can use, with the help of clever software, to plan mouthguards, whitening trays, crowns, bridges and dentures. This plan is saved in a format that the 3D printer can read and use to print.

We will have the software for photogrammetry in July and can’t wait to get started.