Design award for Straumann

Implant manufacturer Straumann's innovative thermoplastic drill template has won the prestigious 2007 Medical Design Excellence Award.

The Straumann Thermoplastic Drill Template provides a quick, simple and precise solution for ensuring optimum implant placement. The template consists of a small titanium tube (sleeve) vertically embedded in a flat piece of special polymer that becomes malleable when heated and then sets when cool. Prior to use, the template is warmed in hot water and moulded over a cast model of the patient's teeth with the sleeve positioned along the planned axis for the implant. Once the polymer has cooled and hardened, the template can be used in the patient's mouth to position and guide the implant pilot drill, which passes through the sleeve precisely. Straumann Thermoplastic Drill Templates are supplied in two shapes and were launched in Europe and North America in 2006, where they are widely available.