During the surgical consultation, the surgeon will evaluate the patient and take a CT scan.
The scan should be free if the patient chooses to proceed with you and your team. A charge should occur if the patient is not serious about proceeding with the treatment or a request is made for a copy to be utilized for a second opinion.
Once the surgical consult is completed, make an appointment with the restorative doctor for a Prosthetic Work-Up before the patient leaves your office. You should also schedule the surgery day. If you do not provide this service, your patient might not follow up.
Surgical Considerations
We recommend a minimum of 4 implants for the upper or the lower jaw.
It is mandatory to give the restorative doctor a minimum 13mm of restorative space in the anterior and posterior region. Anything less will seriously compromise the integrity of the final restoration. The long term survival of the final restoration cannot be guaranteed if you can’t provide the proper restorative space.
Due to the relationship between restorative space and AP spread, we highly recommend the use of computer generated guides for bone reduction and the placement of the implants.
To achieve the 13mm of restorative space, you may have to reduce some bone. Doing so could create a problem with the amount of bone available to place an 11mm or longer implant in the posterior region while avoiding major landmarks such as mental nerves or sinuses.
To resolve this issue, you can either angle the implant or use a surgical guide to get the best placement possible, without compromising the placement or restoring space.
Achieving a good AP spread will dictate the success of the case. The placement of the implants is more important than the number of implants placed.