Restoratively Driven Guided Ridge Augmentation

Restoratively Driven Guided Ridge Augmentation

Have you heard of “Restoratively Driven Implant Placement” to allow screw retained crowns?  Particularly in the anterior, the ridge contour prevents such placement. To counter this, Socket Preservation and Ridge Augmentation procedures were developed. Frequently, even after these procedures, the remaining ridge still compromises implant placement and the resulting restorations.

It forces implant placement lingually and/or apically resulting in aesthetic as well as functional compromises such as “mushroom like” crowns, food traps, deep pockets and gingival recession over time. The surgeon is then faced with a dilemma: accept the alveolar deficiency and place the implant anyway or perform another procedure. Now a “virtual” ridge can be created through the use of merging digitized models  with CT scans. Virtual 3-D planning and "rapid 3-D prototyping," utilizing a 3-D printer, is used to model the contour of the ridge graph prior to the extraction... to digitally plan a ridge. Dr. Abe has developed a "Digitally Planned, Restoratively Driven Ridge Augmentation Procedure" which is a procedure which can create a more ideal ridge contour for implant placement. A restoratively driven ridge contour allows ideal implant placement for more functional and aesthetic restorations.