Implants Made Simple

If you use implants with a Morse Taper, there's no need to freak out. If you use implants with a DEEP Morse Taper, there's also no need to freak out. Maybe just a little. The point is, the Morse Taper isn't the issue here. Morse Tapers are indispensable parts of our implant system that form a tight seal and keep out bad bacteria.  However, the trouble begins when you start to imagin...

Do you need a different implant for every scenario? Well, kinda! You do need implants of different sizes based on where you're placing them in the mouth. But how MUCH variation in dental implant size is really necessary? How precise do you need to be? And at what point does perfect customization actually become an issue that can be detrimental to patient outcomes? For me, it's the point...

Insertion torque tells us whether an implant has primary stability not... right? RIGHT?? Actually, nope! Insertion torque only gives us a measurement of resistance to one type of movement. In this video, I'll break down the engineering behind insertion torque and show you why we're all getting it wrong when we use it to judge primary stability of our implant placements.  If you're l...

It's crestal bone loss! Your patient is losing bone after you placed the implant! ...Or are they? The evidence doesn't seem to support this scary claim. In this video, we'll look at what we'd expect to see if our patients were truly losing bone vs. what we actually see when we place implants as they go through the healing process.  Bone loss is a big topic in dental implantolog...

Do you use 2D radiographs when placing dental implants? Hopefully you do! But do you JUST use 2D radiographs when placing dental implants? If so, you're operating with one hand tied behind your back! 2D radiographs are a great tool, but they leave out an entire dimension–and all the detail and information that comes with it. We need to be using 3D scans of our patients during both the plannin...

How much insertion torque is too much insertion torque when placing a dental implant? Or is there such a thing? Isn't the bigger risk under-torquing the implant? We hear a lot about insertion torque in dentistry, so it may come as a big surprise that our orthopedic colleagues don't pay attention to this metric–even when working with bones as large as the femur! If insertion torque isn&ap...

Gotta go fast! Or do you? Does drilling speed actually matter when placing implants? Of course! Faster drills mean not only more efficient implant placements (which are better for both you and your patients), but they also mean you aren't sitting there spinning a drill bit in your patient's socket. Once you get your drill fully seated in the guide and bottoming out, you're done!  Ma...

One question I hear quite often from dentists, especially aspiring implantologists, is "what should I focus on: single implants or full arch solutions?" I get it. Full arch and full mouth All-on-X solutions seem far more complicated than single implant cases. Is it even worth going through the trouble of learning? Absolutely. Full arch cases are not only rewarding for you, they also have...

Ok, at this point I'm just making up implant placement rules, right? Because there's no science behind it, right? And there can't possibly be rules that apply to every scenario, right?  Well, there certainly are no RULES that apply to implant position in EVERY case, but there are guidelines that should be used as a starting point for each one.  One such rule is the 3A2B rule. It&apo...

Do all dental implants work? Sure. They just work to varying degrees of success. When it comes to my patients, I want to place only the best dental implants–I want my solutions to last for my patients and I'm not going to risk that trying to save a few bucks (which certainly won't pay off if the implant solution fails down the road!). So why do we hear "all implants work" all t...

Getting started with dental implants can feel utterly overwhelming. From perio and extractions to 3D planning and guide design, you need an eye-popping breadth of skill to successfully plan and place even a single implant. Once you get the training you need and you feel ready to place that first implant, now what? Which one do you start with? How do you find that first patient?  In today's ep...

As a dentist, you're also a business owner–and that means you have to deal with TAXES! Taxes can be very complicated and expensive, and you should pay your fair share, but you shouldn't get screwed over because you don't know what you're allowed to write off.  On this special episode of Implants Made Simple, Dr. Robert Stanley speaks with Dr. Bobbi Stanley about dental business...

I've seen plenty of weird implant cases in my years as a dentist–everything from crazy smoker failures to implants placed so far out of position that the prosthesis looks like it's been stretched a mile across the gums. However, this dental implant case might just top them all.  I'm not going to spoil this for you, but I'll give you a little hint–implant design really matters!...

We talked about Pressure Necrosis, but what about Thermal Necrosis? Surely heating the bone to a high enough degree kills it, right? Well, yeah–but implants placed correctly during guided surgery CAN'T get close to the level of heat that causes this sort of Thermal Necrosis. So, for our purposes, Thermal Necrosis doesn't exist! But that's not the end of the story. In this video, Dr....

Oh, Pressure Necrosis. The bane of implantologists everywhere. The ominous phantom that fatally dooms our implants and cackles at our helpless frustration. The nemesis of good torque. The catch-all scapegoat for our failed implants. There's only one problem: Pressure Necrosis isn't real. Yep, I said it. Pressure Necrosis ISN'T REAL! How can this be?? So many lectures and anecdotes i...

I get this question all the time: do I REALLY need to use a long implant? Won't a short implant work just as well? The answer: maybe! It all comes down to physics (of course!). Is the final prosthesis in an area that will be subject to a lot of off-axis loads? If so, you DEFINITELY need a long implant! Think about it like a fence post. If you bury one fence post 6 inches deep and another 3 fe...

You placed a dental implant in your patient's mouth 5 years ago. You used a guide and the implant ended up exactly where you planned it with excellent torque. You got great osseointegration and the site healed beautifully. Your patient cooperated and after 2 weeks, 6 months, and a year, everything looked great.  5 years later, your patient calls you with a problem: Their crown has totally del...

Do you have patients who come back to your office with loose screws, damaged crowns, delamination, and other complications? Are you frustrated because you just don't know why these problems keep happening? You're not alone. Dr. Monica ( @theclassydrmonica8278 ) had the same problem–until she attended her first course with the Stanley Institute!  In today's video, Dr. Monica opens up...

Placing dental implants can be super scary. First, there's a lot of pressure–you certainly don't want to make a mistake and give your patient a terrible outcome! It's normal to be nervous, but implants don't have to be complicated. You just have to cut through all the noise! In this video, I'll cover what it's like to perform your first full-arch case, what to expect...

Do you deal with peri-implantitis on implant cases? Do you hear lectures all the time about how to mitigate and treat peri-implantitis? What if I told you that there was a was to NEVER have another peri-implantitis complication in your practice again? Sound too good to be true?  Well, I've NEVER had an implant I've placed develop peri-implantitis. And you can do this, too! It's actu...

"All dental implants are the same, right?" "Is there really a difference between dental implants?" "There's no difference between dental implants except price." "The best implants are the ones made by dentists, for dentists." "The best dental implants are the ones that are easiest to use."  You've heard this all before, and so have we. It...

We all know that dental labs are going digital. Gone are the days of dusty analog workflows, re-trys, and significant introduction of error. The future of restorative dental work lies solely in the realm of computers and 3D printing. But how do you make the jump to digital dental solutions? Is it even possible to catch up to the industry leaders? Well, yes!  Today on Implants Made Simple, we'...

What's new in the world of dental implants? The Powerball Screw, that's what! The Powerball Screw changes dental implants radically, eliminating the need for everything from ti copings to a series of digital-analog conversions that can introduce error into the dental prosthetic planning process.  Join Dr. Robert Stanley in discussing the Powerball Screw and what it means for the future o...