Cost-benefit Analysis of Point-of-care Dental Implant Guides

Abstract

Guided dental implant surgery is becoming more common and has been shown to have higher accuracy than freehand implant placement. Many surgeons outsource the fabrication of implant guides, even as the tools needed to produce a guide in-house become more ubiquitous and less expensive. The authors' institution prints the majority of its implant guides in-house. Currently, there are very few studies that evaluate the economics of point-of-care 3D printing and dental implants. This study aimed to perform a cost-benefit analysis of point-of-care dental implant guides. A retrospective review of guides made in-house at the University of Louisville Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department from July 2020 through July 2021 was conducted. A cost-benefit analysis was performed with the costs defined as the annualized price of acquisition for a 3D printing system, materials, and annual maintenance. This was then divided by the number of annual guides printed to obtain a cost per part. The benefit was defined as the price per outsourced guide minus the price per guide when printed in-house. This benefit per guide was then multiplied by the number of guides printed annually to calculate annual cost-savings. A total of 79 implant guides were printed in-house from July 2020 through July 2021. Total annual costs including the printing system, materials, and maintenance were $13,790. The majority of these costs were associated with the startup cost of the 3D printing system digital scanner, and implant planning software. The annual cost per part of in-house guides was $175. Outsourced guides in Louisville are $350. Subtracting the cost of the in-house guide from the dental lab guides gave a per-guide benefit of $175. The annual benefit of cost-savings for the program was $13,825. In conclusion, this cost-benefit analysis showed that cost reduction with point-of-care implant guides is substantial. This amount could easily be increased as more guides are produced. Not only are in-house guides more affordable, but they also have a faster turnaround time and are just as accurate as surgical guides commercially produced in a lab. As 3D printing and CAD-CAM technologies become more ubiquitous and affordable, more multi-surgeon practices with large implant volumes will likely produce their guides in-house. To maximize efficiency, these offices could train an employee to handle all aspects of 3D printing and processing. Point-of-care dental implant guides are becoming an increasing reality and offer significant cost-savings potential for practices with high implant volumes that outsource their guide fabrication.