AF Case Reports
General Information
Associate Fellow candidates must submit and present three (3) case reports on three (3) different patients for Part 2 (oral/case) of the examination as specified in Case Requirements for Associate Fellows.
Before you begin:
Download and read the GUIDELINES FOR CASE REPORTS FOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW MEMBERSHIP. Here you will find the criteria for each case and what should be included in your case reports. Details of when your photographs and radiographs should be taken and what views are required can be found in the Guidelines.
Download Guidelines
Check out the Frequently Asked Questions for the Part 2 (oral/case) examination for answers to the most common questions.
The candidate’s name and office name and address must not appear anywhere in the reports except on the patient release form. Also, the patient’s address should NOT appear in the report.
Candidates will use their examination number to identify all materials submitted for the examination. Candidates will receive this number after his or her application for the examination is received in the AAID Headquarters Office.
The submitted reports become the property of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry and will not be returned.
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Case Requirements
- The candidate must have provided surgical and/or restorative treatment for each of the submitted cases.
- Each case must be on a different patient.
- The cases presented for the examination must include implants that are at least 3 mm in diameter.
- Each case must be complete with the final prosthesis of the candidate's choice.
- The case must be in function for at least one year by the beginning of the examination period. Function is measured from the date of the final prosthesis to the first day of the examination period.
DO NOT SUBMIT CASES OF LESS THAN ONE YEAR IN FUNCTION FROM THE DATE OF THE FINAL PROSTHESIS DELIVERY.
Associate Fellow candidates must submit the following required cases:
Case 1: Single Tooth
Case 2: Edentulous Segment of Two (2) or more adjacent teeth with a minimum of two implants.
Case 3: Candidates Choice of:
a) An edentulous arch: The presence of non-clinically relevant impacted teeth is acceptable, e.g., horizontally or bony impacted third molars. If root-form or plate-form implants are used, the case must include a minimum of four (4) implants.
b) Immediate placement of one or more implants in the maxillary anterior segment, i.e., cuspid to cuspid.
c) A horizontal onlay graft of at least 1 cm in ridge length that results in a net increase of ridge width of at least 3mm facial to lingual (minimum 1 implant.)
d) A vertical onlay graft, which is at least 1 cm in ridge length, that increases the vertical height of the ridge at least 2 mm superior to inferior (minimum 1 implant).
e) Lateral wall sinus augmentation which results in an increase of at least 5 mm height (minimum 1 implant).
For each case, candidates are required to submit 1) a patient release form, 2) a written report, 3) photographs, and 4) radiographs. A template for each required files for the the case reports is posted below. These templates are also available on a CD upon request to the Headquarters Office.
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Case Submission
Case reports for both the Associate Fellow and Fellow examinations are due in the Headquarters Office 45 days before the examination period begins. The applicant is responsible for insuring that the case materials arrive by that date; therefore, use of a delivery process that allows verification of receipt in the Headquarters Office is recommended.
The case reports must be submitted in electronic format and all materials submitted for the examination will be identified by candidate number. Candidates will receive this number after his or her application for the examination is received by the AAID office. Candidates should submit all reports online through the link in the confirmation letter or by mail on one memory stick (USB flash drive), which includes a folder for each case type, labeled as appropriate, e.g., single tooth case. Only submit cases once.
Subperiosteal Cases: Candidates who are presenting a subperiosteal implant case must bring the bone model from either the direct bone impression or CT scan to the examination. Do not submit these models with the case reports.
Study Models. During the case presentations, the candidate may use study models, but they are not required. Candidates who plan to use study models should bring them to the examination. Do not submit study models with the case reports.
Failure to comply with the case report guidelines, including the radiographs, photographs and medical histories, will greatly affect the candidate's case report score.
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Patient Release
The patient release is the first (1) of four (4) documents required for each case submission.
Submit a copy of the patient release form.
Download AAID Patient Release Form
This form is the ONLY place the candidate's name, office name and address should appear in the case submission.
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Written Report
The written narrative report is the second (2) of four (4) documents required for each case submission.
The written report is the step by step narrative of how the treatment was completed, why the candidate chose these methods and materials, and what this means to the patient. Candidates must develop written narrative (prose) reports for each of the three cases for the Associate Fellow examinations.
A successful written report guides the reader through the case beginning with the patient's complaint and examination, then proceeding to the development and rationale of the treatment plan.
Next will be details of the surgical and prosthetic procedures (including treatment dates, materials, techniques, and rationale). The report continues with a comparison of preoperative and postoperative diagnoses and any complication that occured. The patient acceptance and prognosis concludes the report.
Tips for writing the Written Report
The Written Report Template outlines the information the reader needs to understand the case and rationale behind the treatment decisions
- In each report, the arch that was treated must be specified; and the teeth must be identified by name, not number.
- If an abbreviation is used in the narrative (prose) reports, it must be explained the first time that it is used in the narrative report.
- The candidate’s name, office name, and address must not appear anywhere in the reports except on the patient release form.
- Also, the patient’s address should NOT appear in the report.
- The written narrative reports must include all of the pertinent information included in the template outline.
Creating the Written Report
Step 1: Download and save the Written Report Template (requires Microsoft Word)
Step 2: On page 1, type your examination number and the patient’s initials and choose the case type from the pull down menu. Each candidate is issued an examination number after submitting the application for examination to the Headquarters Office .
Step 3: On page 2, insert a scanned copy of the medical history, which has the patient’s signature, by doing the following: (1) click on the sample history and (2) go to INSERT picture and insert a scanned image file of the patient’s medical history. Be sure that the scanned copy is LEGIBLE and does NOT contain candidate’s name, office name, or address.
Step 4: Beginning on page 3, there are headings for each section of the template outline. The content that must be included in each section is described in the grey shaded area, which is under the section heading. The content descriptions are the information the examiners have requested to understand the case. Begin typing the report text in the grey shaded area where your text will write over the content description. To move to the next section of the report, hit TAB.
Step 5: When the written report is completed, convert the final file into a pdf document. Label it using your candidate number, case type, and Written Report and save in the appropriate case folder in your files. (e.g. AF001 Single Tooth Written Report). The written narrative reports are one (1) of four (4) documents required for case submissions.
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Photograph Report
The photograph report is the third (3) of four (4) documents required for each case submission.
All photographs must be of good quality (diagnostic value) and should be made with a digital camera with a SRL lens of the macro type and a ring flash. (You may use a digital camera without an SRL lens and a ring flash; however, such photos often are not of diagnostic value.)
Cheek retractors must be used for all intraoral photos, and a high quality side view mirror must be used for all posterior views.
These photographs must clearly depict the soft tissue relationship to the implant prosthesis. The tooth (teeth) of interest must be shown in each of the photographs.
Unless specified, the photographs should be taken post-completion.
All visual images presented in the photographs must be in their natural state and must not have been altered by a graphics editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. Do not submit any photographs that are not required.
All photographs must comply with applicable patient privacy laws.
Photograph Template
Required Photograph views by case type
- Single tooth
- Standard photographs only
- Edentulous segment of two or more adjacent teeth
- Standard photographs only
- Immediate placement of one or more implants in the maxillary anterior segment cases (13 photos total)
- Standard photographs
- Plus five additional photographs:
- Frontal view of proposed immediate site in the aesthetic zone prior to extraction.
- Occlusal view of the proposed immediate site prior to immediate implant placement.
- Frontal view of the proposed immediate site prior to immediate implant placement.
- Occlusal view of the immediately placed implant.
- Frontal view of immediate provisional.
- Edentulous cases (8 – 11 photos total)
- Standard photographs
- Cases that include a removable prosthesis, three additional photographs are required
- Occlusal view of the superstructure without the removable prosthesis in place.
- Frontal view of the superstructure without the removable prosthesis in place.
- View of the intaglio (tissue side) surface of the removable prosthesis
- Graft cases (14 photos total)
- Standard photographs
- Plus six additional photographs
- Pre-surgical occlusal view showing the atrophic ridge
- Pre-surgical facial (lateral) view showing the atrophic ridge
- Immediate post-surgical occlusal view
- Immediate post-surgical facial (lateral) view
- Occlusal view of healed site, typically 4 - 6 months after ridge augmentation and pre-implant placement
- Facial (lateral) view of healed site, typically 4 - 6 months after ridge augmentation and pre-implant placement
STANDARD PHOTOGRAPHS
Post-completion photographs that clearly show the views listed below are required for each case:
- Centric occlusion, right
- Centric occlusion, left
- Anterior Centric
- Anterior Protrusive
- Lateral view of left working
- Lateral view of right working
- Occlusal maxillary
- Occlusal mandibular
Creating the Photograph Report
Step 1: Download and save the photograph template as specified for the case type in Required Photograph views section.
Step 2: Open the template for photographs in Microsoft PowerPoint. All of the photo views required by case are listed on the opening slide(s). For each case, type the information specified in the bracketed text of the slide.
Step 3: After the required photo view slides, insert the candidate’s examination number, the patient’s initials, and the case type in the bracketed text of the slide. Each candidate is issued an examination number after submitting the application for examination to the Headquarters Office.
Step 4: The next slide provides the template for each photograph. In the slide sorter view or the side bar on the left, right click on this slide, then choose duplicate slide, and repeat until you have inserted enough slides for each of the required photos. See above required views to decide number of slides necessary (between 4 – 10 slides.)
On each slide, type the view and date that the photo was taken, as appropriate.
To insert a photograph,
- Click on the placeholder that is to be replaced.
- Go to the INSERT menu and click picture and from file, then choose the photograph to be inserted and click insert. Resize the photo to the approximate size of the placeholder. Only place one photo per slide.
- A dialoge box will open, navigate to where the photograph is stored, then choose the photograph to be inserted and click insert. Only place one photo per slide.
- DO NOT EDIT THE PHOTOGRAPHS. All visual images presented in the photographs must be in their natural state and must not have been altered by a graphics editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. Suspicion of photo editing is cause for disqualification from the examination.
Step 5: Label the file using your candidate number, case type, and Photographs and save in the appropriate case folder in your files. (e.g. AF001 Single Tooth Photographs).
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Radiograph Report
The radiograph report is the fourth (4) of four (4) documents required for each case submission.
Radiographs that meet the criteria listed in this section and show clearly the views listed below are required for all case reports submitted for both the Associate Fellow and Fellow examinations. All radiographs must be of diagnostic quality and have minimal distortion, and bone levels must be obvious.
Radiographs Template
Radiographs of the following views must be submitted with each case report.
- Presurgical panograph or a full-mouth radiographic series.
- Post-surgical (within one week of surgery) panograph or a post surgical periapical radiograph for a single-tooth-implant
- Post-prosthetic (on the day of final insertion) with prosthesis or bar superstructure in place; either panographic or periapical radiographs are acceptable
- Completed case radiograph (taken within 12 months of the candidate’s oral/case examination date.) Either a panograph or a full-mouth radiographic series is acceptable.
For grafting cases, two additional radiographs are required:
- Cross sectional cone beam radiograph of the augmentation site both BEFORE the augmentation’s placement.
- Pre-prosthetic cross sectional cone beam radiograph of augmentation site AFTER the augmentation's placement that shows
- 3 mm gain in bone for onlay grafts
- 5 mm gain in bone for sinus grafts
If a CT scan has been made for a case, a panoramic view and representative slices of the scan may be submitted but are not required.
Creating Radiograph and CT Scans
Download and save the radiograph template. Open the template for radiographs in Microsoft PowerPoint. For each case, type the information specified in the bracketed text of the slide.
On the first slide, all the radiographs that are required for each case are listed. In slide 2, insert the candidate’s examination number, the patient’s initials, and the case type. Slide 3 provides the template for the required radiographs In the slide sorter view or the side bar on the left, right click on this slide, then choose duplicate slide, and repeat until you have inserted enough slides for each of the required radiographs.
On slide 3 and subsequent slides, type the view and date that the radiograph was taken, as appropriate. To insert a radiograph,
- Click on the placeholder that is to be replaced.
- Go to the INSERT menu and click picture and from file, then choose the photograph to be inserted and click insert. Resize the radiograph to the approximate size of the placeholder. Only place one radiograph per slide.
Name the file by candidate number, case type and “Radiographs” and save in the appropriate case folder (e.g. AF001 Single Tooth Radiographs)
If a CT scan has been made for a case, a panoramic view and representative slices of the scan may be submitted, using the same procedure. Please note that CT scans are only required for grafting cases.
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