Pathfinder
An innovative cover screw & slim healing abutment in a single device, making every implant uncovering fast and precise, painless to the patient and easy to the dentist.
Uncovering implants without fear
Painless local anesthesia without unpleasant injection; precise cutting of the gingiva at the right location and angle - all these lead to the fastest implant uncovering you've ever encountered, without unpleasant surprises.
Lossless Uncovering - stop losing valuable tissue!
The only solution enabling you to grow soft tissue around implants without losing it at the uncovering stage.
Fits a wide range of implants
Pathfinder fits a wide range of regular and narrow implants with an internal hexagon, as well as any implant with a UNF 1-72 or M1.6 internal thread.
Pathfinder's raison d'être
Watch the short video to understand why we created Pathfinder and how it will help you prevent both short-term and long-term complications in the peri-implant tissues.
How it works?
Working with Pathfinder consists of 4 easy stages:
Place the Pathfinder on the implant immediately after implant placement, as you would do with a cover screw.
Suture the gums and use a high-speed handpiece with a metal-cutting bur to cut the Pathfinder at gum level.
Before uncovering the implant, inject the anesthetic directly to the supragingival opening of the Pathfinder to achieve fast and effective infiltration, painless to the patient.
Use the Pathfinder toolkit and choose a punch fitting the implant's diameter. Pair the punch with the shaft and place it on the Pathfinder. Gently slide the punch through the gums until it encounters the implant.
Lossless uncovering
Stop losing valuable tissue in the esthetic zone!
Watch the short video to see how Pathfinder can be used without a punch, to easily uncover implants in the esthetic zone while keeping the soft tissue for emergence profile design.
A Unique, Patented Solution
The combination of Pathfinder and its unique toolkit provides you with complete confidence during 2nd-stage implant surgery. You would be able to easily recognize the implant’s location and angle, and make a precise cut in the needed diameter, without suturing or an additional healing time.
Additional Surgical Advantages
Pathfinder provides additional techniques for tissue augmentation procedures, such as bone augmentation, sinus lifting and gingival grafting.
Bone Augmentation
You can use Pathfinder to easily fixate the GTR membrane in place.
Lingual Pedicle Graft Fixation
Pathfinder would fixate your pedicle graft and prevent it from shrinking.
Implant Ligation Near the Maxillary Sinus
Pathfinder allows ligation of the implant adjacent to the maxillary sinus to prevent it from traveling into the sinus cavity.
FAQ
It is not enough to screw PathfinderTM in using the provided single-use plastic driver. After the initial placement with the plastic driver, use the metal PathfinderTM driver provided in the toolkit. Screw the PathfinderTM in using a torque of approximately 10 N/Cm (the maximum torque exerted by the clinician’s hand). In any case, the torque for Pathfinder placement should be 20% less than the torque used during implant placement.
PathfinderTM is sterilized after packaging and you do not need to sterilize it again. However, if the PathfinderTM vial is cracked, open or otherwise damaged, do not use it. Please note that PathfinderTM is strictly intended for single use, and you should not try to re-use it.
After implant placement, PathfinderTM placement and suturing, the soft tissue would be swollen. In patients with thin gingiva (2-3 mm. thickness), cut the PathfinderTM at gum level. After the swelling subsides, approximately 10 days after surgery, you will usually see the PathfinderTM protruding ~1 mm. above the soft tissue. In cases with thicker gingiva, you may cut the PathfinderTM 1 mm. below gum level, after suturing. Use dental tweezers to gently depress the soft tissue while cutting the PathfinderTM, to prevent unnecessary injury.
The supragingival part presents no disturbance. If a provisional prosthesis is used, make sure that its gingival surface does not touch the PathfinderTM after the soft tissue swelling recedes. In addition, one may polish PathfinderTM after cutting, to make sure no sharp metal edges are left that might injure the adjacent tissues or the tongue.
The supragingival opening of PathfinderTM does not endanger the implant with infection. This is since the openings at the implant platform level are filled with a blood cloth immediately following suturing of the gums. At a later stage, as part of the normal healing process, new gingival tissue grows through the openings and seals them. However, if the clinician feels insecure and wishes to further protect the implant, one may seal the supragingival opening of PathfinderTM (after cutting) with a 0.6-0.7 mm Gutta-percha pin.
PathfinderTM is strictly intended for single use and you should not try to re-use it. This is because the sealing plug on the PathfinderTM screw is no longer effective in repeated uses.
