Freehand vs Guided Surgery: A Profitability Comparison

Guided Surgery vs Freehand Surgery

For practices entering full-arch, every case offers excellent financial returns. However, maximizing doctor chair time is the key to true profitability in this specialty.

We partnered with 18 full-arch surgery experts—both freehand and guided—to analyze surgical approaches, restorative methods, appointment requirements, and workflow efficiencies across different treatment protocols.

What we discovered is that guided surgery is:

40% faster workflow to final vs freehand

$1,000+ more profitable per hr vs freehand

Profitability Comparison

CHROME GuidedSMILE is a 40% faster process and an $1000+ per hour more profitable workflow.

This analysis simply looks simply at time and materials and does not address the additional CHROME GuidedSMILE benefits such as increased osteotomy visibility, enhanced surgical predictability, easy to learn conversion processes (including small hole technology), gathering records for the final on the day-of-surgery, and relatively simplistic process to final, etc.

Data Breakdown - Material/Surgical Analysis

Materially, CHROME GuidedSMILE is more expensive than conducting the surgery freehand. Increased material cost result in greater surgical and restorative efficiencies (see below).

No. of Appointments & Time Analysis

CHROME GuidedSMILE, surgically and restoratively, 40% faster than the average freehand surgery.

• Surgically – faster due to preplanning and accurate stackable guide process
• Restoratively – significantly faster due to its reduced number, and length, of necessary appointments.

Restoratively, in a freehand surgery the appointments you need are:

1. Appointment to take new impressions
2. Appointment to try a fit verification jig
3. Appointment to try a try-in
4. Appointment for a reset
5. Appointment to seat for final

With CHROME GuidedSMILE you go directly to

1. Appointment for either an iJIG or a RAPID.
2. Appointment for Printed Try-in.
3. Appointment to seat the final.