Verification of the usability of a navigation method in dental implant surgery: In vitro comparison with the stereolithographic surgical guide template method

ObjectiveThis study investigates the usefulness of a navigation method using a reference frame directly fixed to the mandible compared to the stereolithographic (STL) surgical guide template method in dental implant surgery.Materials and methodsTwenty rapid prototyping (RP) mandibular models were divided into two groups. Simulation surgery was performed using SimPlant software for both groups. The actual dental implants were placed in the RP models using a real-time navigation system or the surgical guide template, which was fabricated based on STL data by a 3-dimensional printer. Positional implantation errors were measured by comparing the simulation surgery implant positions to the actual postoperative implant positions.ResultsThe vertical distance error of the top surface area in the first molar region was not significantly different between groups. Otherwise, the implantation method using real-time navigation showed greater errors except for the horizontal and vertical errors in the apical area of the canine region.ConclusionThe STL surgical guide template was associated with fewer errors than the real-time navigation method in dental implant surgery.