Digital planning and bone regenerative technologies: A narrative review.

Area of Science:

• Digital Dentistry
• Implantology
• Oral Surgery

Background:

• Advanced implant dentistry often involves complex bone augmentation procedures.
• Digital technologies (DT) offer potential solutions for simplifying and improving these procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the application of digital technologies in bone augmentation for advanced implant dentistry.
• To explore how DT can enhance surgical predictability and patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A narrative review of electronic databases was conducted.
• Included studies encompassed systematic reviews, meta-analyses, RCTs, case series, and case reports.
• Focus was on DT applications in advanced implant dentistry bone augmentation.

Main Results:

• Seventy-nine articles were included in the review.
• DT applications span intra-oral scanning, digital wax-ups, DICOM/STL file matching, 3D model production, surgical template creation, custom mesh fabrication, and computer-aided implant placement.
• Digital workflows show promise in simplifying and improving bone augmentation.

Conclusions:

• Partially or fully digital workflows can be successfully implemented in advanced implant dentistry.
• The current body of evidence, particularly RCTs on fully digital workflows, remains limited.
• Further research is necessary to fully evaluate the potential of DT in this field.