Complications related to digital technologies in treating edentulous patients with implant-supported prostheses. Part 1: Digital data collection and surgical planning stages

A complication involves deviations from the intended treatment course, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. Although complications can be caused by human error, they may also occur despite following best practice. Clinicians should have the capability to recognize complications at an early stage to prevent further harm to their patients. Complications related to the use of digital technologies can often be subtle initially until the errors develop into considerable clinical problems. This 2-part presentation shows the author’s clinical experience and available evidence on how to detect and prevent complications related to the use of digital technologies at critical steps in implant treatment for edentulous patients. Starting from the digital data collection, clinically satisfactory complete dentures can be used for the double-scan procedure, optimizing the visualization of the maxillofacial anatomical structures and prostheses in a 3-dimensional virtual patient,^, facilitating prosthetically driven surgical planning. Regardless of the digital methods used, it is essential that accurate data set and registration results be obtained.^, Accuracy is the foundation of subsequent digital planning, and commonly seen data collection complications and solutions are discussed. Secondly, static computer-aided implant surgery (s-CAIS) has been used to interface the surgical and prosthetic treatment steps, providing clinicians with an accurate pathway to transfer the digital surgical planning to the implant placements, which would be beneficial to the prosthetic treatment outcomes. Multiple computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture (CAD-CAM) surgical templates including fixation pin placement templates, bone reduction templates, implant placement templates, and immediate loading prostheses with various designs and manufacturing methods have been proposed.^{,  ,}  The design of CAD-CAM surgical templates for edentulous treatment is discussed to minimize future intraoperative surgical complications while improving implant placement accuracy. Alternative to the fixation pin, commonly used in computer-guided surgery, are discussed, for the prevention of intraoperative complications in patients with reduced anatomic structures.