Iowa DII / Simple Surgical Guides
Simple Surgical Guides
You send the scans.
We plan it.
You place it.
Scan integration, digital treatment planning, printing and shipping — taken off your hands so you can get on with the part of implant dentistry that is actually enjoyable.
What you need
- A CBCT
- An intraoral scanner, or a diagnostic model
- A fully-guided surgical kit — or ask for a pilot guide
- An implant system; pilot guides work with any of them
How it works
Four steps, and two
of them are yours.
01You send us your scans
Upload the CBCT and the intraoral scan through the form below, named with your own first and last name.
02We plan your case
The scans are merged in the implant-planning software and the implant is placed digitally — depth, sizing, and the relationship to the adjacent and opposing teeth.
03You approve
The digital treatment plan comes back to you within one business day. Nothing is printed until you have signed it off.
04We print and ship the guide
Printed in house and shipped by FedEx or UPS within five business days of approval and payment.
In Dr. Weaver's words
Once the entire process of diagnosis, placement and restoration became efficient, my implant surgeries became what I hoped they would be: simple.
Guided surgery basics
What the guide is
actually doing.
If you have not done guided work before, this is the whole idea in two paragraphs.
Guided surgery lets you place implants safely, quickly and efficiently. All of the critical spatial factors that require precision — location, angulation, depth, and inter-occlusal clearance — are integrated into one simple guide. The guesswork of proper placement is removed, and the chances of the surgery succeeding go up substantially.
The process starts by combining the patient's CBCT and intraoral scan in implant-planning software. That allows the implant to be placed digitally and the appropriate depth, sizing and relationships to adjacent and opposing teeth to be determined. A 3D surgical guide is then fabricated that lets you reproduce the digital placement on your patient.
What it does not do
A guide does not fix a bad plan, a flap that was not designed, or bone that is not there. It reproduces a decision that was made on screen. If the planning finds that the site needs grafting first, that is what the plan will say — and that is a better place to discover it than mid-surgery.
Which guide
Fully-guided, or pilot.
Pilot guide
Works with any implant system
- Guides the pilot drill only; you finish the osteotomy freehand
- No fully-guided surgical kit required
- The right answer if you do not own a guided kit yet
- Still removes the angulation and position guesswork
- Accurate, and considerably better than nothing
Fully-guided
The complete osteotomy and the implant through the guide
- Every drill and the implant itself go through the sleeve
- Requires a fully-guided surgical kit for your system
- The closest reproduction of the digital plan
- Tell us the system and kit on the form so the sleeve is right
- This is where the ten-minute single-tooth placement comes from
Questions
About the guides.
How do I get started?
Read the instructions and the scanning protocol in full, then submit a case through the form above. Ask the questions before you submit rather than after — a scan that cannot be used is the single most common cause of delay.
What equipment do I need?
Guided surgery requires access to a CBCT, an intraoral scanner, and a fully-guided surgical kit. A diagnostic model can be used instead of a scanner.
What if I don't have a fully-guided kit?
We also make very accurate pilot guides that work with any implant system. Say so on the form and that is what you will get.
What is the turnaround time?
The digital treatment plan is ready within one business day of receiving acceptable scans. Once you approve the digital plan and pay for the case, it is printed and shipped by FedEx or UPS within five business days.
What file types can I send?
jpg, png, pdf, zip, dcm, stl, wudat and invwu, up to 700 MB per file. Zip a DICOM series rather than uploading several hundred individual slices.
Does this replace referring the case?
It is the alternative to it. If you want the implant placed by someone else, refer it. If you want to place it yourself with the planning taken off your hands, order a guide. Both doors lead to the same planning standard.
Start a case
Send the scans and see what comes back.
The digital plan arrives within one business day and nothing is printed until you approve it. If you are new to this, call first — it is quicker than a resubmitted scan.