Lake Forest Dentistry
by Jill Cousins
Getting dental implants used to be a long, drawn-out, painful process that involved surgical incisions and sutures, and it often took weeks or months to complete. At Lake Forest Dentistry in Sanford, however, Dr. Dennis Horanic now offers a high-tech alternative – computer-guided implant placement – and it’s a real game-changer.
The procedure begins with a CT scan of the patient’s mouth, sending the 3-D rendering to a lab that helps select size and shape of the implant structure. Then, a few days later, the implant arrives and is seamlessly and painlessly placed in the patient’s mouth and secured. Voila!
“It’s like a glorified video game,” Dr. Horanic says. “It’s a unique scenario where you can dial everything in perfectly before you even open the patient’s mouth. Wherever the implant is on the computer screen is exactly where it will be in the mouth. It’s pretty high-tech.”
A specialist in Chicago introduced Dr. Horanic to computer-guided implant placement about 15 years ago when the procedure was in its infancy. Dr. Horanic was instantly impressed with its superior accuracy and how the scan produced what he describes as “absolutely perfectly positioned implants.”
In the past, Dr. Horanic would send his implant patients to a specialist who would surgically cut open the gums to see where the bone is and make a hole in the bone to place the implant. With computer-guided implant placement, the CT scan assists in greatly simplifying the surgery.
“Most people are done with the CT scan in three or four minutes,” Dr. Horanic says. “It’s computer-guided and happens in 3-D on a computer screen.”
Once the size of the implant is chosen in the computer screen, a guide is made so that the implant can be placed in perfect position.
“We often don’t have to send you to a surgeon,” Dr. Horanic says. “It’s all done in our office, quick and easy.”
For more information about computer-guided implant placement or Lake Forest Dentistry’s many other dental services, call 407-328-9398 or go to SmileOrlando.com.