Victoria guided implant surgery, plan turned into placement
The implant position is worked out on a 3D scan before surgery. Guided implant surgery then uses a guide made from that plan, fitting over your teeth or gum, so the post goes exactly where it was designed to go rather than where it looked right on the day.
Guided implant surgery thinks hard before the appointment
Where a post sits decides how the finished tooth loads, how the gum sits around it and how close it comes to the nerve or the sinus. Working that out on a scan, with the final tooth position in mind, is a very different exercise from judging it by eye with a patient in the chair.
The scan comes first, which is covered on CBCT Imaging. The plan is then converted into a physical guide with a sleeve at the planned angle and depth. It matters most where margins are tight, which is why front cases and All-on-4 Implants arches lean on it heavily.
Guided implant surgery is not a substitute for judgement. If what we find during surgery differs from the scan, the guide comes off and clinical judgement takes over, which we would tell you about afterwards. The wider set of risks is on Implant Risks.
Guided placement
How it works
Guided implant surgery, from scan to seated post
Scan and plan
Bone, nerve and sinus mapped in three dimensions, then the implant position chosen against where the final tooth needs to sit.
Make the guide
A template is produced from the plan, with a sleeve set at the exact angle and depth worked out on screen.
Fit and place
The guide seats on your teeth or ridge, the site is prepared through the sleeve and the post placed to the planned depth.
Verify
Position is confirmed before closing. If anything found on the day differs from the plan, we adapt rather than follow the guide blindly.
Where it counts
Tight sites are where guided implant surgery earns its place
A wide ridge in the middle of the lower jaw with a nerve well clear underneath gives plenty of margin. A thin upper front ridge, a molar site close to the sinus or a full arch where several angled posts have to converge does not. Those are the cases where a millimetre matters and a guide pays for itself.
Guided implant surgery is also shorter and usually less invasive, because the site is prepared through the sleeve rather than after opening a larger flap. That tends to mean less swelling afterwards, which is set out on Recovery And Aftercare. Where sedation is being considered too, see Sedation Options, and for the shape of the whole appointment, Implant Surgery Day.
Before the dayPlanned
Angle and depthSets
Tight marginsBest for
Related pages
What sits either side of guided implant surgery in Victoria
The imaging that feeds the guide, and what follows the appointment.
Victoria guided implant surgery questions, answered
What a guide is, whether it is always used, and what it changes for you.
A custom template, usually printed, that clips over your teeth or sits on the ridge. It has a metal sleeve at each planned implant position, set at the angle and depth worked out on the scan. It is used during surgery and then discarded.
No. Straightforward sites with generous bone and clear margins are often placed freehand by an experienced surgeon with an equally good result. Guides earn their keep where margins are tight or several posts must relate to each other precisely.
Usually, because the preparation is already decided. It often also means a smaller opening, which tends to mean less swelling afterwards. The time saved on the day is small; the value is in the accuracy rather than the clock.
It is only as good as the scan and the plan behind it, and it assumes the tissue it seats on has not changed. That is why position is verified during surgery rather than assumed. If reality differs from the plan we set the guide aside.
There is a planning and manufacturing cost, which appears on the plan where it applies. Whether it is worth it depends on the site. We will tell you when we think a case genuinely needs it and when it would be an addition without benefit.
Victoria patients
What Victoria guided surgery patients say
★★★★★4.9· 118 reviews on Google
★★★★★
The guide clipped over my teeth and it was done before I expected it to start. Far less dramatic than I had imagined.
G. Batista
Guided placement, Victoria
★★★★★
Lower molar with the nerve nearby. Being shown the planned depth on screen beforehand settled my nerves.
S. Oyelaran
Nerve close by, Langford
★★★★★
Four angled posts all placed through one guide. Understood afterwards why freehand would have been harder.
D. Weber
Full arch guided, Colwood
★★★★
They said my site was straightforward enough not to need a guide. Did not charge me for one either.
L. Tan
Freehand instead, Saanich
From the blog
Victoria implant guides: surgery, imaging and healing time
The plan is worked out on screen and shown to you before anything is booked. You will see where the post is going, how close the nerve or sinus is, and whether your case is one where a guide genuinely helps.
