Digital Implant Dentistry: The Past, the Present, the Future

Digital implant dentistry has evolved from the analogue fundamentals of osseointegration to a highly data-driven discipline that integrates advanced imaging, virtual planning, guided surgery, and computer-aided prosthetics. The past was characterized by two-dimensional diagnostics, freehand implant placement, and conventional impressions, which-despite their limitations-enabled pioneering therapeutic concepts. Today, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), intraoral scanning (IOS), and CAD/CAM production represent disruptive technologies that have irreversibly transformed diagnostics, workflows, and prosthetic outcomes. Computer-assisted implant surgery (CAIS), both static and dynamic, has enhanced precision and safety, while digital impressions and monolithic restorations have streamlined implant prosthetics. Digital monitoring tools now allow longitudinal assessment of peri-implant tissues, occlusion, and wear of restorations. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly support diagnostics and planning, while robotics may redefine surgical execution, and intraoral sensors promise personalized preventive monitoring during maintenance. The integration of all digital records into a comprehensive "digital twin" of the patient points toward a future of predictive, patient-specific implant therapy. Critical discussion remains essential; while digital technologies offer standardization and reproducibility, they also raise economic, educational, and ethical challenges, including investment, accessibility, and data security. Digital implant therapy enhances predictability and patient experience. Finally, the digital transformation of implant dentistry is not an end in itself, but a powerful enabler-reshaping workflows, augmenting clinical expertise, and opening the door to personalized implant care.