An open protocol for evaluating the accuracy of guided implant surgery by using digital casts

Abstract

An open protocol is described for the evaluation of implant deviation by using digital casts. A digital surgical planning cast and a definitive cast are imported into a reverse engineering software program, and cylinders are created as simplifications of the implants. After superimposing the digital casts, implant deviations can be calculated by using the coordinates of the cylinders. This protocol only requires routine clinical data from the guided implant surgery and digital prosthodontic workflow; it can therefore be easily embedded into the clinical procedure. Any dental software program providing access to implant coordinates can be integrated with this protocol to overcome the shortcomings of various closed-loop workflows used by dental software programs.