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The incorporation of SimPlant Planner software and Materialise SurgiGuide drill guides into our postgraduate program has revolutionized patient care and resident education. In doing so, it has raised the level of both in a way not possible with commonly used techniques for planning and surgical placement of dental implants.

Our department strives to provide the highest quality of care in the postgraduate clinic. When implants are placed with conventional surgical guides the procedure often includes a considerable amount of intra-operative decision making. There are many unknowns that are hidden until the time of surgery when the bone is exposed. This is when adjustments in the surgical plan are made to allow for deficiencies in the volume, position, and quality of available bone. Implant surgery completed in this manner is often less than optimal since it involves intra-operative decision making that, by necessity, does not allow for thoughtful analysis lacks collaboration and is not prosthetically driven. This “bottom up” approach of implant placement results in compromises that can often be avoided by a more collaborative and reflective approach.

When we use SimPlant Planner, our periodontal residents and attending faculty can review the ideal prosthetic plan defined by an image of the scanning appliance on a CT scan along with the anatomic information in a virtual interactive setting. We can place implants virtually on a trial basis. This allows us to review many options and develop an ideal surgical plan that fully supports the prosthetic plan developed by our prosthodontic colleagues. This allows us to eliminate most of the unknowns which facilitates both patient consultation and the educational process since the treatment decisions are made preoperatively. Materialise Dental SurgiGuide drill guides which are based on the plan developed in SimPlant planner allows our residents to place implants precisely. This allows our prosthodontic colleagues to deliver the highest quality reconstruction for our patients in terms of function, esthetics, and efficiency. Surgery can also be completed with better safety and predictability.

When one considers this process it becomes clear that in addition to improving the predictability and quality of care, this technology is an outstanding resource to more effectively educate periodontic and prosthodontic residents in implant dentistry. SimPlant Planner also facilitates an effective and ideal collaborative relationship among dental specialties. This relationship is certainly what our faculty wish to foster among our residents. In other words interdepartmental collaborative accountability mandates that all treating participants commit to the patient’s therapeutic outcome before treatment is initiated. The performance standards for the implant team are clearly defined before treatment is initiated.

When dental implant treatment is delivered the conventional way intra-operative decisions are usually made by the periodontic faculty providing instruction by telling the resident what to do and how to adjust the plan to the newly discovered anatomic realities. The resident misses the opportunity to discover the problem, consider the options independently, and propose a solution to the attending faculty member. The active learning completed in the virtual world of SimPlant Planner allows the novice to exercise their own thought process in a setting which encourages meaningful interaction and problem solving. It has been our observation that when objective information can be thoroughly discussed our residents tend to develop independent problem solving skills more quickly. The residents are then able to execute the surgery with more confidence. It has been our experience that the very design of the software insures meaningful collaboration. The prosthodontic and surgical plans are finalized with both residents and attendings of the Prosthodontic and Periodontic Departments by reviewing the virtual plan on the computer. It is common for the prosthodontists to raise surgical issues and visa-versa. Therefore, everyone understands the challenges which affect the patient’s outcome and each collaborator has been given an opportunity to develop a plan to meet those challenges before rendering treatment.

This collaborative effort results in a consensus plan that is prosthetically directed. Treatment limitations are known preoperatively. At this point we can consult with the patient and choose to develop sites to support the ideal prosthesis or make the necessary compromises. Either way it is interactive and not reactive which allows the therapist and patient to know to a high degree of certainty what to expect. Finally, another advantage to our postgraduate program is the opportunity to share all of these cases in great detail with all residents. This increases their total number of educational experiences.