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Figure 3f. Images show the clinical use of the dental CT program and show the dental implant surgical procedure. (a) Photograph shows a patient edentulous distal to the right maxillary canine (short arrow) being evaluated for dental implants. A plastic stent with six vertical markers is placed over the alveolar ridge and residual teeth. The sixth marker (long arrow) is adjacent to the right canine and is demonstrated in b and c. (b) Transverse CT image demonstrates the sixth marker as a dot (long thick arrow) at perpendicular line 32 (long thin arrow) adjacent to the right canine (short arrow). (c) Cross-sectional CT views demonstrate markers four (straight open arrow), five (large straight solid arrow), and six (curved solid arrow) of the stent as lines. Note that marker six is adjacent to the right canine (curved open arrow). By placing a stent on the patient during surgery, the surgeon knows that the bone under marker six is as depicted on cross-sectional image 32. Arrowheads indicate where alveolar bone width is measured; small straight solid arrows indicate where height is measured. (d) An incision is made, and the gingival and periosteal flaps (arrowheads) are held back with sutures, exposing the bone of the alveolar process (short arrows). Holes are drilled, and three titanium implants are inserted into the bone. Note that the implants are flush with the bone, and their openings are covered with healing screw caps (long arrow). (e) The incision is sutured closed, and after 4-6 months of healing, permanent abutments, which raise the fixture above the gingival surface, are attached with abutment screws. Screw hole in the center of the abutment (arrow) accommodates a screw that fixes the prosthesis. (f) Prosthesis is now attached to three implants. Screw heads are covered with white compound. (Reprinted, with permission, from reference 14.)