Aim: to compare the accuracy of implant placement when using the tooth-supported surgical guides with different distributions of support manufactured by the Digital Light Processing technique.
Methodology: 24 replica implants were inserted in 12 partially edentulous maxillary resin casts. Implant placement was done using printed surgical guides. Three designs of surgical guides were (unilateral tooth support), (bilateral tooth support), and (full arch support). After implant placement; accuracy measurements were done using blue sky bio software by superimposing the actually placed implants with the virtually planned implants. The deviations were then measured.
Results: the most accurate group was the bilateral tooth-supported group as it was found to offer similar accuracy achieved by full-arch guides but the unilateral tooth-supported group was not considered the best support. The study also showed the effect of added fixation screw in the edentulous area which directly expresses the effect of reducing bending of the surgical guides.
Conclusion Using bilateral tooth support offers the same accuracy as complete arch guides. On the other hand, using unilateral tooth support is not considered to provide the best support for surgical guides compared to a similar number of support in free-end saddle cases