title: Evolution of surgical guidance in implant dentistry.
abstract: The optimal positioning of oral implants ensures good biomechanical, functional, aesthetic and phonetic results.The concept of surgical guidance in implant dentistry has been developed to bridge the gap between pre-operative treatment planning and surgical site preparation.This article discusses its evolution, from the early surgical guide systems which used only diagnostic casts as reference, to the latest in computer-assisted navigation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgical guidance allows the accurate transfer of information from the pre-operative treatment planning phase to the surgical field. It assists the operator in placing the implant in the most ideal position and angulations, with regards to the final prosthesis.
authors.affiliation: Kalra Dental Clinic, C-270 Defence Colony, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Manav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalra
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Aparna
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dhanasekar
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000379:methods*; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D003765:Models, Dental; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014584:User-Computer Interface