ABSTRACT
Dental implants and implant-supported restorations have become a standard of care therapy for both partially and completely edentulous patients. Properly placed dental implants in all three dimensions ensure an optimal prosthesis and prevent any damage to vital anatomic structures. Further, accurate implant placement is an essential criterion for obtaining an aesthetic and functional prosthesis. Guided implant surgical procedures provide us with the necessary precision for implant placement by visualising the anatomy of the area of interest with the help of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and intraoral scan data of the patients in virtual planning software. The applications of additive manufacturing have widely been utilised in the healthcare sector, specifically as a restorative option by fabricating devices to repair and replace damaged or lost human body parts. Particularly, the field of implant dentistry deals with such precise restorative work for replacing human dentition, where implant surgical guides serve as a unique tool to improve the functional and aesthetic outcomes for the treated patients. This chapter shall present a focused update on the evolution, basic principles and diverse aspects of guided implant surgery via surgical guides constructed with contemporary additive manufacturing techniques.
