System and method for providing compact navigation-based surgical guide in dental implant surgery

A method for providing real-time tracking of a drill piece during a surgery comprising:

• placing a tracking marker on a surgical guide at an implant site according to a virtual plan, wherein the surgical guide is fabricated to be custom fitted to a patient's mouth or jawbone;
• receiving a relative position data of the tracking marker from a sensor attached to the drill piece, wherein the sensor detects electromagnetic signals from the tracking marker and generates the relative position data of the tracking marker,
• determining a relative position of the tracking marker with respect to the drill piece using the relative position data of the tracking marker;
• correlating the relative position of the tracking marker to a predetermined virtual position of the tracking marker in the virtual implant plan;
• and
• providing real-time visual feedback of the drill piece relative to the patient's anatomy on a display.

A real-time tracking system comprising:

• a drill piece comprising a sensor and a drill bit, wherein the sensor is adapted to detect electromagnetic signals from a tracking marker placed on a patient-specific surgical guide, and wherein the sensor is adapted to generate a relative position data of the tracking marker based on the electromagnetic signals;
• and
• a computer comprising a display,
• wherein the computer is adapted to visualize a virtual model of the patient-specific surgical guide, a virtual implant model placed at an implant site according to a virtual implant plan, and the patient's anatomy;
• wherein the computer is further adapted to receive the relative position data of the tracking marker from the sensor of the drill piece, determine a relative position of the tracking marker with respect to the drill piece using the relative position data of the tracking marker, correlate the relative position of the tracking marker to a predetermined virtual position of the tracking marker in the virtual implant plan, and provide real-time visual feedback of the drill piece on the display of the computer.