A novel dental reconfigurable drilling guide based on standardized drilling sleeves and personalized substrate

Abstract

Drilling guide that consists of a personalized substrate and additional guide sleeves has been widely used to precisely position the implants in dental surgery. However, the traditional drilling guide cannot be reused or disassembled because the guide sleeves are affixed in the substrate. Additionally, the guide sleeves are not as wearable as they are made of titanium. In this paper, based on standardized drilling sleeves and a personalized substrate, a novel dental reconfigurable drilling guide is proposed, which is beneficial to ensure the accuracy of implant insertion. The drilling sleeves are installed in the substrate through transition fit and can be easily disassembled. First, the three-dimensional model of mandible was reconstructed based on the cone beam computed tomography data. Secondly, according to the implant planning from the dentist, the drilling sleeves were designed based on the diameter of special drills. The drilling sleeves was used in conjunction with the special drill. Thirdly, different substrates were designed through medical image processing software based on the oral cone-beam computed tomographic data. Afterwards, the designed drilling sleeves and substrates were manufactured by means of computer numerical control machining and three-dimensional printing, respectively. Finally, the reconfigurable drilling guide was formed by installing the standardized drilling sleeves in different substrates. The results were demonstrated that the standardized drilling sleeves can be reused in different substrates for different drilling guides. Reusing the reconfigurable drilling sleeves economizes medical materials, reduces the time to prepare the drilling guide, and simultaneously achieves prospective precision in the implant placement.