Designing, Fabrication, and Efficacy Testing of a Surgical Guide for Accurate Positioning of Dental Implants in Completely Edentulous Mandibular Models

Objectives: Ideal implant placement decreases the postoperative surgical, prosthetic, and functional complications. This study aimed to design and fabricate a surgical guide for accurate positioning and angulation of dental implants in edentulous mandibular models and assess its efficacy. Materials and Methods: After initial designing and fabrication of resin model of the surgical guide and eliminating its shortcomings, the final model was fabricated using 6061t6 aluminum alloy by a computer numerical control machine. The efficacy of the designed surgical guide was tested by placing 16 implants with the help of the surgical guide in two completely edentulous mandibular models. Next, cone-beam computed tomography DICOM images were obtained from the inserted dental implants, and analyzed by NNT Viewer software. One-sample t-test was applied to compare deviations of implant angle and distance from the planned angulation/position at P<0.05 level of significance. Results: The mean angular deviation between the planned and placed implants was 3.31±1.2° and 0.97±0.56° for 0° and 15° implants, respectively. The mean linear deviation between the planned and placed implants was 1.00±0.75 mm. Although the linear and angular differences between the planned and placed implants were statistically significant (P<0.05), they were clinically acceptable. Conclusion: The designed surgical guide showed the expected efficacy with maximum mesiodistal angular deviation < 5° and linear deviation < 1 mm in 56% and < 1.5 mm in 75% of the placed implants, compared with the planned angulations/position