Purpose: Dynamic navigation is a technique that allows for the placement of dental implants using a computer-guided approach according to preoperative planning. Its accuracy has been assessed in several previous studies. The purpose of this study was to summarize data on implant placement accuracy using dynamic navigation, to synthesize the frequency of intraoperative complications and implant failures, and to compare this technique with static computer-guided surgery and a freehand approach.

Materials and methods: Electronic and manual literature searches until December 2019 were performed. The outcome variables were implant placement accuracy using dynamic navigation, accuracy differences between dynamic and static techniques and between dynamic and freehand techniques, intraoperative complications, and implant failures. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed.

Results: A total of 32 studies were included; 29 reported accuracy values (2,756 implants), and 10 focused on complications and implant failures (1,039 implants). The pooled mean implant placement errors were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.677 to 0.943) mm at the entry point and 0.910 (95% CI: 0.770 to 1.049) mm at the apical point. The pooled mean vertical and angular deviations were 0.899 (95% CI: 0.721 to 1.078) mm and 3.807 (95% CI: 3.083 to 4.530) degrees. The navigation group showed significantly lower implant placement errors with respect to the freehand technique (P < .01) and similar accuracy values (P ≥ .05) compared with the static technique. The pooled prevalence of failures was 1% (95% CI: 0.00% to 2%).

Conclusion: Dynamic navigation provided small implant placement errors, comparable with those obtained using static computer-guided surgery, and can be considered a more accurate technique than conventional freehand surgery.