Dean Morton
1.4 Potential Roles for the SAC Classification
On its surface, the SAC classification provides an assessment of the potential difficulty and risk of an implant-related treatment for a given clinical situation and serves as a guide for clinicians in both patient selection and treatment planning. In addition, it can also fulfill several additional roles.
Primarily, the classification scheme is aimed at providing clinicians with an objective and evidence-based framework against which they can assess clinical cases regarding the complexity of the planned treatment. This can then be used to assist them in deciding if they possess the necessary skills and knowledge to complete the treatment themselves, or whether referral to a more experienced clinician is indicated. With this capacity, they can build their experience in implant dentistry incrementally and minimize potential risk to their patients. Recently, the current SAC Assessment Tool validity was tested in regard to the agreement level between users, confirming its role as a clinical decision-making tool, as well as a valuable tool for the education of less experienced clinicians (Correia et al, 2020).
The SAC classification can also act as a checklist for more experienced clinicians to help them ensure that all relevant risks have been considered in the patient assessment and treatment planning phases of care.
Communication is a vital part of any step of patient management. In this regard, the SAC classification can aid in communication between clinicians as well as between them and their patients. The classification facilitates communication between colleagues by providing a known framework to exchange information: a shorthand that all involved clinicians are familiar with. When dealing with patients, clinicians can use the SAC classification of their situation to illustrate to patients the complexity and risks associated with their care. As such, it becomes an important tool not only in treatment planning but in the informed consent process as well.
Finally, the SAC classification can aid educators in developing training programs that gradually introduce increasingly more complex cases to their students, allowing an incremental development of knowledge and skill.
1.5 Using this Book
This book is intended to support your use of the SAC Assessment Tool that can be found at www.iti.org. Many sections of this publication are also supported by additional online information from the ITI Academy, the ITI’s e-learning platform, including learning modules and assessments, congress lectures, clinical cases, and Consensus Conference papers.
To view this additional material in full and for free, you need to be an ITI Member and logged in at www.iti.org.
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As soon as you have logged in or have created your free ITI Academy account, and if you are reading the print version of this publication, you can scan QR codes like the one below and will be taken to the corresponding item in the ITI Academy.
If you are an ITI Member and reading the online version of the book on the ITI Academy, you can also click on the link in the text that accompanies each QR code:
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The SAC Assessment Tool distills the content of this book in an easy-to-use process that takes you through each step necessary to identify the degree of complexity and potential risk involved in individual clinical cases. To start your assessment, scan the QR code to the left or click on the link. |
CHAPTER 2: The Rationale Behind the Updated SAC Classification
A. DAWSON, C. STILWELL
Please refer to chapter 1, section 1.5 for information on the prerequisites for accessing the additional online information from the ITI Academy via the QR-codes and links provided in this chapter.
Please note that to view this additional material in full and for free, you need to be an ITI Member and logged in at www.iti.org.
2.1 Definitions
Case type A class of implant-supported prostheses that share similar defining characteristics. For example, implant-supported crowns for single-tooth replacements, or short-span implant-supported fixed dental prostheses replacing three or four teeth and supported by two implants.
Process: The implant dentistry “process” is defined as the full range of issues pertaining to assessment, planning, management of treatment, and subsequent maintenance of the implant and prosthetic reconstruction; it does not merely refer to the clinical treatment procedures that are involved.
Normative classification In this context, “normative” relates to the classification that conforms to the norm, or standard, for a given clinical situation in implant dentistry. The normative classification relates to the most likely classification of a case type. The final classification of a specific case may differ from the normative classification for the case type as a result of individual risk factors.
Timing of implant placement and loading: Loading and placement protocols have been investigated