Dental CT-Scans and dental implants Germany. Nobel Guide and Simplant. Spine and radiology

Dental CT-Scans Germany - Baltic Sea Clinic

• Baltic Sea Clinic is a Lübeck - based medical image clinic specialising in  CT
• scans for surgical and dental - planning. 

Dental Implantology

Dental implants are, in effect, titanium and metal- free Zirkonium roots placed directly into the bone of the jaw to support replacement teeth. An average sized implant is around 3.5 mm in diameter and 12 to 16  mm in length. The dentist or surgeon placing the implant needs to determine whether or not there is enough bone of adequate consistency for long-term function and stability. The images that can be generated from reformatted CT scans provide exactly that information.

Dental implantology holds out the promise of permanent restoration of the edentulous or partially edentulous mouth to near-original condition. It is the next best thing to "getting your own teeth back". However, this precise and sophisticated technology requires careful planning, based on highly accurate imaging, to be effective.

To be successful, implantology requires both permanent integration of the titanium fixture into the bone, and a good aesthetic restoration of the teeth and gums. Involving the implant surgeon, the restorative dentist and the dental laboratory technician in the detailed pre-operative planning is therefore extremely important.

The implantology team uses pre-surgical imaging to indicate the following:

• where each implant should go
• how long and wide it should be
• at what angle it should be inserted
• whether the bone quality (e.g. its density) is sufficient
• which system of prosthetic restoration hardware would be the most appropriate
• where the sensitive anatomy is located.

Dental implants have raised new hopes in patients who find normal dentures unacceptable or inconvenient. Biting and chewing with successful implants is the same as with normal teeth. Depending on the patient’s physical and psychological state, implants may be suitable for fully edentulous patients, or for partial edentulousness such as one or two teeth missing after trauma. Unlike conventional bridges, no natural teeth have to be destroyed during the procedure or included in the solution.

In cases where the patient exhibits extreme resorption or the quantity or quality of natural bone is insufficient, bone grafts can be used to build up the implant site. Once the implant has been placed and allowed to heal, it becomes firmly embedded in the bone (a process known as osseointegration).

Successful implants require a commitment to life-long maintenance both from the osseointegration team and from the patients themselves. Patients typically receive regular check-ups involving several intra-oral radiographs per year. If complications occur they are usually manifest during the first 12 months; after that complications are quite rare.

Computer Guided Implantology

Our aim  has always been to improve patient care and safety and to achieve the best possible results for dental implantology and reconstructive surgery by the provision of modern imaging technology.

Today wecan achieve this aim with the latest implant planning software. The dental surgeon can place “virtual” implants into an interactive 3D model of the patient’s bony anatomy, assessing bone quality and availability. Important factors such as the height of the alveolar bone, buccolingual dimensions and contours of the ridge, and the position of the alveolar nerve can be accurately assessed. Having placed the “virtual” implants and determined their proposed locations and orientations, a series of laser-fabricated (surgical drill guides) can be made. In this way the treatment plan can be accurately transferred to the surgery for each patient.

The CT Dental-Scan is a specially developed computerized reformatting program that has been developed to obtain true cross-sections of the mandible (jaw) and maxilla (upper mouth) from the easily obtained CT scans for patients being considered for dental implant surgery in either the mandibular or maxillary arches. The main use of Dental CT today is in the pre-operative planning and pre-operative modeling of endosseous dental implants and subperiosteal implants. When used appropriately, CT relieve a lot of the pre-operative guesswork by the patient's dental surgeon in the planning of the position and lengths of the implants when surgery is deemed possible and also assists in withholding surgery when it is not feasible. Dental CT eliminates the need to make strategic decisions after surgery has been initiated. It enables the dental surgeon to visualize the bony structures pre-operatively; the surgeon does not have to make decisions at the time of surgery when the mucoperiosteal flap is already elevated to visualize the bony structures directly. Dental  CT provides the surgeons an operation with information of the internal structures that cannot even be gained by direct intra-operative visualization.

Dental CT-Scans Germany - Baltic Sea Clinic