Integrating a mouth opening assessment of virtual patients to prevent intraoperative challenges during treatment.

Template-guided implant surgery in the posterior region or zygomatic implant surgery using dynamic navigation systems is often hindered if a patient has limited mouth opening. To overcome the problem, the authors have proposed a novel digital protocol that integrates the use of a facial scan for the assessment of the maximal mouth opening of a virtual patient to assist in preoperative planning, thereby minimizing the likelihood of intraoperative obstruction of the surgical site. The proposed method is cost effective and can be easily used in clinical practice.

Accuracy assessment of dynamic navigation during implant placement: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies in the last 10 years.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the accuracy of dynamic computer-aided implant surgery (dCAIS) and compare it with static computer-aided implant surgery (sCAIS) and freehand implant placement (FH) in partially or fully edentulous patients. DATA: Studies that analyzed the accuracy of dynamic computer-assisted implant surgery in partially or fully edentulous patients. SOURCES: This meta-analysis included studies published in English and Mandarin Chinese from January 2013 to February 2023 from MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). STUDY SELECTION: Only clinical studies were included. Accuracy was the primary outcome. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 2,025 implants were analyzed. Meta-regression was conducted to compare the six different navigation systems. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) assessment was adopted as a collective grading of the evidence. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic navigation is a clinically reliable method for implant placement. Significantly lower angular deviation was observed for dCAIS compared to both sCAIS and FH, while significantly lower global platform and apex deviations were displayed between dCAIS and FH. Overall, dynamic navigation allowed for higher accuracy compared to both sCAIS and FH in a clinical setting; however, additional large sample RCT studies should be conducted, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) reported. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This systematic review analyzed the accuracy of dynamic computer-assisted implant surgery in partially or fully edentulous patients compared with static navigation. The results demonstrated that dynamic navigation could decrease implant placement angular deviations.