Digital Smile Designed Computer-Aided Surgery versus Traditional Workflow in "All on Four" Rehabilitations: A Randomized Clinical Trial with 4-Years Follow-Up

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-03, Vol.18 (7), p.3449
• Main Authors: Cattoni, Francesca, Chirico, Luca, Merlone, Alberto, Manacorda, Michele, Vinci, Raffaele, Gherlone, Enrico Felice
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bone loss; CAM; Computer aided manufacturing; Computer-Aided Design; Dental implants; Dental prosthetics; Dentistry; Digital computers; Edentulous; Fixtures; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Laboratories; Mouth; Mouth, Edentulous - surgery; Pain; Patients; Phonetics; Prostheses; Rehabilitation; Software; Surgery; Surgery, Computer-Assisted; Transplants & implants; Workflow
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18073449

The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the traditional "All on Four" technique with digital smile designed computer-aided "All on Four" rehabilitation; with a 4-years follow-up. The protocol was applied to a total of 50 patients randomly recruited and divided in two groups. Digital protocol allows for a completely virtual planning of the exact position of the fixtures, which allows one to perform a flapless surgery procedure with great accuracy (mini-invasive surgery) and also it is possible to use virtually planned prostheses realized with Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) (methods for an immediate loading of the implants. After 4 years from the treatments 98% of success were obtained for the group of patients treated with the traditional protocol and 100% for the digital protocol. At each time interval a significant difference in peri-implant crestal bone loss between the two groups was detected; with an average Marginal Bone Loss (MBL) at 4 years of 1.12 ± 0.26 mm in the traditional group and 0.83 ± 0.11 mm in the digital group. Patients belonging to the digital group have judged the immediate loading (92%), digital smile preview (93%), the mock-up test (98%) and guided surgery (94%) as very effective. All patients treated with a digital method reported lower values of during-surgery and post-surgery pain compared to patients rehabilitated using traditional treatment. In conclusion, the totally digital protocol described in the present study represents a valid therapeutic alternative to the traditional "All on Four" protocol for implant-supported rehabilitations of edentulous dental arches.