At a one-day course hosted by SYS Systems, Stratasys and Swissmeda took clinicians and dental technicians through the full guided implant surgery workflow, from digital planning to 3D-printed surgical guides, to give them the knowledge and confidence to start placing implants with guides in their own practices.
The shift from freehand to guided
Most implant clinicians already know the clinical case for guided surgery. A digitally planned implant goes where the restoration needs it, and the margin for error shrinks with every complex case. Patient expectations around speed and aesthetics keep rising too.
‘We are looking for more accuracy, more precision going forward,’ says Dr Sneha Gokhale, a periodontist and practice owner in Burton upon Trent. ‘Prosthetic-driven implant placement, that’s the way forward.’
A digital plan also changes the conversation with patients. ‘One thing is just to tell the patient that they’re going to have an implant,’ says Hugo Patrão, who leads sales and education for Swissmeda across EMEA. ‘Another thing is to be able to show it on the screen… By doing that, we inform patients and we empower the patients.’
So the clinical logic is clear. The harder questions for most practices are the practical ones: where do I start, what can go wrong, and how much is it going to cost me?
Tackling the practical barriers
At a recent training day held at SYS Systems in Derby, delivered jointly by Stratasys, implant planning specialist Swissmeda and SYS, the UK and Ireland reseller for Stratasys dental technology, those three questions came up repeatedly.
‘The doctors feel a little bit lost, and sometimes they are afraid of not being supported,’ says Hugo.
Dr Waqas Tahir of Accrington Dental Suite, who currently uses pilot guides, expected cost and logistics to be the main obstacles. Dr Gokhale worried that printed guides might not be accurate enough, or would limit surgical access. The course addressed all these concerns.
A digital-agnostic approach to training
‘We encourage all the doctors to come to a course not about Swissmeda, but about guided surgery, to know the advantages, the pitfalls and, above all, the limitations,’ says Hugo. Clinicians who understand where guided surgery can go wrong, and how to correct it, are far more likely to adopt it confidently.
The day moved from planning principles to hands-on work: superimposing intraoral scans on CBCT data, identifying common planning errors, watching a live case redesign, and handling demo guides. Delegates also learned how to troubleshoot guide fit and seating issues. The open-architecture guide design drew particular attention from those who had worried about restricted visibility, since it improves access for irrigation and flap reflection.
‘They’ve explained what can go wrong with a surgical guide and how to correct them,’ says Dr Gokhale.
‘It’s an eye-opener,’ says Dr Tahir. ‘Going back to some of the basics of planning, and the importance of planning for your entire workflow.’
The guided surgery workflow at a glance
| 1. Intraoral scan | 2. CBCT scan | 3. Scans merged in planning software | 4. Implant position planned around the restoration | 5. Guide designed | 6. Guide, model and gingiva mask 3D-printed together | 7.Guided implant placement |
Two routes to an accurate printed guide
In-house printing
For practices with their own lab – increasingly common among larger, multi-surgery groups – the Stratasys J3 and J5 DentaJet print the surgical guide, model and gingival mask together in a single job. Parts come out fully cured inside the print chamber: no washing in isopropyl alcohol and no separate post-cure station. That removes two steps, the consumables that go with them, and the handling of uncured resin.
‘The parts are completely cured within the print chamber,’ says Anthony Gillitt, dental sales manager at Stratasys. For a lab running multiple cases a day, the time and consumable savings add up quickly.
Partner lab
Clinicians who prefer to outsource production lose nothing in quality.
‘We can also signpost clinicians to a lab that may be close to them who has got this technology,’ says Chris Andrews, sales manager at SYS Systems. Lino Adolf, owner of Majestic Smile, a high-volume digital lab near Cambridge using Stratasys DentaJet, prints guides for clinicians who don’t have their own equipment. The economics work because the lab spreads the investment across its full caseload.
Getting the lab involved early
Guided surgery works best when the lab sees the plan before the surgeon picks up the handpiece.
‘If the dental lab is involved in the planning from the start, you can get better outcomes when it comes to the prosthetic side,’ says Lino. The implant position drives everything downstream, from abutment selection to emergence profile and restoration margins. A lab that reviews the plan early can flag problems before they’re locked in.
Dr Gokhale sees the same from the chair. ‘If you get the precision, if you get the angle right, it’s obviously better for the labs. They get good results with crowns, bridges… better for the patients.’
Support through first cases
Swissmeda supports clinicians through their first guided cases after the course, reviewing plans, checking guide designs, and answering questions case by case. ‘They should never feel alone,’ says Hugo. ‘We are there for them, supporting them all the way along the learning journey.’
SYS provides applications and service support across the UK and Ireland, and clinicians and labs can visit the Derby facility for a demonstration and test prints on the DentaJet printers before committing to a purchase.
‘Three businesses working together to support our clients and offer education at the highest level,’ is how Anthony describes the partnership.
‘If we get that right,’ says Dr Gokhale, ‘the whole process after that becomes easier.’
This article is sponsored by Stratasys.
