Two of the most notable trends in modern surgical specialties are minimally invasive surgery and the integration of computerized diagnostics and computer-aided surgery, in its different forms.
In oral implantology these two trends are now mainstream in the form on one side of the so called flapless surgery or Minimally Invasive Implant Surgery (MIIS) and on the other side of the Computer-Aided Implant Surgery (CAIS).
Even tough MIIS and CAIS are independent techniques and indeed flapless surgery can be performed in some cases without the aid of the computer and a computer-aided approach not always allows a flapless procedure, these two approaches can be very often combined with great advantage.

Today CAIS can be performed with 3 different methods:

I. Passive system: navigating with an optical tracking system14 or a magnetic tracking system 15. The surgeon executes a free-hand surgery but follows on a monitor in real-time the progress of the bur
in relation to the anatomy of the jaws. Navigation is more complex and costly in terms of equipment; it is a more flexible solution because the surgeon can modify the planned position of
the implants. However navigation is more prone to human error and less accurate than semi-active systems.

II. Semi-active system: high precision technologic tools (surgical guides) with which to transfer the planned surgery to the surgical field are fabricated with CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing)
robotic16 technique. The main drawback of the surgical guides is the possible movement of the guide during surgery and reproducibility of the template position between the CT and the surgical procedure.

III. Active system17: at least part of the surgery is directly performed by a robot equipped with sensors and a mechanical arm controlled by the surgeon . Active systems in implantology are still in a preclinical pioneering phase of development.

We believe that CAIS can be used with great advantage not only in simple cases, but also in the so called complex cases, as those involving the completely edentulous patient, implants in the esthetic
zone and tilted implants, limited amount of bone.

The 1st International Computer Aided Implantology Academy Congress (May 2006) will take place in Rome. Speakers and Moderators from all around the world will contribute with their experience to the knowledge in the Computer Guided Implantology and the most commonly used software systems and platforms. (Read the Scientific Program.)

The CAI Academy is an international non-profit association that oganizes workshops, implantology courses and congresses for Implantologists and Prosthesists who need continuous adjournments and education on Computer Assisted Implantology.