AIM: To assess the accuracy of guided surgery compared with mental navigation or the use of a pilot-drill template in fully edentulous patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty consecutive patients (72 jaws), requiring four to six implants (maxilla or mandible), were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment modalities: Materialise Universal(®) mucosa, Materialise Universal(®) bone, Facilitate(™) mucosa, Facilitate(™) bone, mental navigation, or a pilot-drill template. Accuracy was assessed by matching the planning CT with a postoperative CBCT. Deviations were registered in a vertical (depth) and horizontal (lateral) plane. The latter further subdivided into BL (bucco-lingual) and MD (mesio-distal) deviations.

RESULTS: The overall mean vertical deviation for the guided surgery groups was 0.9 mm ± 0.8 (range: 0.0-3.7) and 0.9 mm ± 0.6 (range: 0.0-2.9) in a horizontal direction. For the non-guided groups, this was 1.7 mm ± 1.3 (range: 0.0-6.4) and 2.1 mm ± 1.4 (range 0.0-8.5), respectively (P < 0.05). The overall mean deviation for the guided surgery groups in MD direction was 0.6 mm ± 0.5 (range: 0.0-2.5) and 0.5 mm ± 0.5 (range: 0.0-2.9) in BL direction. For the non-guided groups, this was 1.8 mm ± 1.4 (range: 0.0-8.3) and 0.7 mm ± 0.6 (range 0.0-2.9), respectively. The deviation in MD direction was significantly higher in the non-guided groups (P = 0.0002).

CONCLUSION: The most important inaccuracy with guided surgery is in vertical direction (depth). The inaccuracy in MD or BL direction is clearly less. For non-guided surgery, the inaccuracy is significantly higher.