Computed tomography (CT) scanning has been used to evaluate the dental alveolus for about 15 years 1-4 and it has become a helpful and accepted practice to gain diagnostic information before placing bone grafts and/or dental implants. Although this technology has proven to be a valuable addition to the diagnostic phase of treatment planning,it is an adjunct,and therefore is not necessary,or even useful,for every case. The goal of computer-assisted planning of dental implant surgery is to provide the surgeon and restorative dentist with a 3-dimensional,accurate picture of the relationship between the alveolar bone,vital structures present in that bone, 5,6 and a custom-made radiographic template. 7-9 The surgeon and restorative dentist can review the images and decide if enough volume of bone is present in which to place an implant. If insufficient volume exists,a graft can be placed before implant surgery,and that template can be modified for use as a bone graft template. If enough volume exists to rigidly stabilize an implant, then the information obtained by CT can be incorporated into the surgical template to provide the proper positioning,width,length,and angulation of the implant,and to avoid vital structures present in the bone,yet still be in the correct position for restoration. Our usual diagnostic process for an implant case consists of obtaining pertinent patient history (recording the chief complaint and the past medical history),performing a careful intraoral and extraoral examination,discussing the patient’s expectations, preparing accurate study models mounted on an articulator in centric relation,and obtaining plain radiographs from 2 views using metal bearings 10 of a known diameter. This last consists of a periapical dental radiograph of the proposed site and a panoramic radiograph. A diagnostic waxup of the proposed finished occlusion is then performed by the restorative dentist on the study models,complete with soft tissue and gingival architecture reconstructed to ideal anatomic configuration. This waxup is made to be removable so the restorative dentist and surgeon can confer and agree on where soft tissue and bone needs to be grafted or recontoured,and so establishment of proper aesthetic positioning and occlusion of the dentition is achieved before any surgical procedure. Once the ideal occlusion and the soft tissue and bony support are agreed on,the diagnostic waxup is used to generate an implant template. In cases where bone grafting will be done using a staged approach,the diagnostic template will first be used to generate a bone graft template,11 and then be used