By Dr. Alan E. Friedel
Digital Workflows in Implant Dentistry is a compilation of material presented in 2018 at the ITI Consensus Conference in Amsterdam that was worked into this book. This book is extremely thorough in detail and is not intended for dentists seeking a simple “cookbook” approach to digital workflow. If you have an academic interest, or if you are heavily invested into digital dentistry, this book will be of interest. There are 14 chapters to the book, and the first 12 examine different aspects of digital approaches to what were formerly analogue procedures. These concepts include: Digital Scans, CAD/CAM, Implants, Computer Guided Surgery, and Digital Articulators to name a few.
Chapter 13 provides multiple case studies some of which by the nature of digital workflow have areas of overlap. For those readers who find most of the book to be too dense, these presentations are more in the nature of a “nuts and bolts” approach to the topics raised in the preceding chapters. The cases start with single implant restorations and become progressively more complex ending with a case requiring multiple implants and the correction of a large bony defect in a patient’s maxilla.
The final chapter is brief but provides a listing of those technologies which one would have to invest in if a doctor decided to immerse into a digital approach to clinical care. Each chapter ends with concluding remarks where the authors lay out challenges being faced in the area of discussion and provide cautionary notes.
The illustrations are up to the high standard the publisher is renowned for and provide visual understanding of the topics being introduced. These images will be familiar to those doctors used to working in this realm, but will be a revelation to those of us who have not yet experienced high resolution STL files or CBCT radiography.
This book is of an Academic Nature and would be of great value in a teaching environment pointing towards how dentistry will be practiced in the coming generations. It should be part of the library of any institution engaging in digital practice. It is not for the average reader.
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Beyond the Bite 