Implants Made Simple
Welcome to Implants Made Simple with Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer.
Whether you're a seasoned implantologist or just starting your journey, this podcast cuts through the complexity to bring you straightforward, practical insights that elevate your implant game. Hosted by Dr. Rob Stanley — a dual-trained engineer and dentist — each episode distills real-world strategies from his thriving YouTube channel and clinical experience into actionable takeaways you can apply right away.
From biomechanics to surgical workflows to full-arch planning, Dr. Rob makes advanced implant concepts simple, smart, and surgically sound.
Episodes
135 episodes
DON'T Make this Lighting Mistake in Your Surgical Field!
In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer breaks down one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a clinician: single light vs double light on your dental loupes. Most dentists focus only on magnification, but <...
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Episode 135
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2:11
The Hidden FLAW in Hybrid Ti-Base Restorations (and How to Fix It!)
In this week’s clinical update, Dr. Robert Stanley breaks down a critical restorative issue we see when combining hybrid ti-bases with monolithic zirconia crowns — a subtle but problematic lip that can appear at ...
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Episode 134
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3:23
Why Most Guided Surgery FAILS in the Lab (And How SI Guided Was Built to Fix It!)
In this episode, Dr. Robert Stanley sits down with Sarah Bridgers, Lead Designer for SI Guided, to discuss the origin, philosophy, and clinical workflow behind the lab. What began as an in-house resource built exclusively for Stanley Institute ...
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Episode 133
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19:24
If Your Surgical Guides Fail, THIS Is Why
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley dives deep into the mechanics and materials behind surgical guide design so you can finally understand why guides fail and how to make them work reliably every time. Whether you’re a clin...
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Episode 132
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8:25
How to STOP Breaking Root Tips
In this week’s clinical breakdown, Dr. Robert Stanley takes you inside the science and strategy behind atraumatic extractions. Dentistry isn’t just about pulling teeth — it’s about understanding forces, lever mechani...
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Episode 131
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3:30
The TRUTH About Health Histories and Implant Success
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer® dives into how health histories intersect with modern dental implant success. While systemic conditions and comorbidities are important to know, Dr. Rob explains why,...
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Episode 130
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3:52
If Your Technique NEVER Changes, That’s a Problem
Dentists frequently ask Dr. Stanley why he changes techniques or switches implant systems. In this video, he addresses that question head-on and explains why “good” is often the enemy of great.In this episode of "Implants Made Sim...
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Episode 129
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4:34
We NEED to Talk About Polished Implant Collars
In this week’s episode, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer® challenges a long-standing trend in implant prosthodontics: the idea that highly polished implant collars are biologically superior or somehow necessary for ...
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Episode 128
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7:05
This Is How I Plan EVERY Edentulous All-on-X Case
Join Dr. Robert Stanley this week as he walks you through his approach to case planning for full-arch / All-on-X cases in edentulous (fully toothless) patients. In this video, he dives deep into the critical role of soft tissue elasticity, a...
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Episode 127
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6:20
Choosing the Right Healing Abutment: STOP Guessing!
This week, Dr. Robert Stanley breaks down the two kinds of dentists in the world—those who hate blood and those who don’t—and how that mindset impacts your approach to implant restoration. He compares BioHorizons Smart Shape healers with tradit...
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Episode 126
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7:59
What My Bad Haircut Teaches Us About Implant FAILURE
Ever walked out of the barber’s chair wishing you could hit undo (same!)? That feeling? Believe it or not, it’s not so different from what happens when a dental implant fails to integrate properly. In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile E...
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Episode 125
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2:31
The #1 Thing DESTROYING Your Implant Healing
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley breaks down why smoking is one of the biggest threats to predictable healing after extractions, implants, and other oral surgeries. Smoking acts as a vasoconstrictor, reducing blood flow and oxygen deliv...
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Episode 124
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1:53
DON'T Save the Tooth, Choose What’s Best for the Patient
As dentists, we’re trained to save teeth at all costs — but is that always in the patient’s best interest? In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer®, explains the concept of herodontics and why sometimes, replacing a compr...
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Episode 123
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7:25
New Dentist? Here’s What NO ONE Tells You Your First Year
In this episode, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer — who joined Stanley Dentistry as a dentist in 2008 after a career in engineering — shares the five things he wishes he’d known during that first year out of dental school. Whethe...
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Episode 122
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7:27
Should You WORRY About the Nasopalatine Nerve in All-on-X?
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer, considers a hot topic in full-arch implant therapy: ablating the nasopalatine nerve during All-on-X surgeries. Why does the nasopalatine nerve sometimes comes into play with fully gu...
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Episode 121
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2:33
Game-Changer or Gimmick? Smart Shape Healers REVIEW!
BioHorizons just released their new Smart Shape healers — but are they worth the hype? In this week’s episode, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer, breaks down the design, benefits, and potential drawbacks of these new healing abutments. He ...
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Episode 120
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7:14
WHY You Implants Drift Over Time (and How to Fight It)
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley — “The Smile Engineer” — explores the phenomenon of mesial drift in the anterior region and its implications for implant treatment, especially in younger patients. Learn how to anticipate, manage, and co...
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Episode 119
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3:57
2 Implant Rules You Can’t Ignore (and WHY They Matter)
In this week’s video, Dr. Robert Stanley, The Smile Engineer, breaks down two key implant rules every clinician should know: Tarnow’s rule (3mm implant-to-implant spacing, 1.5mm implant-to-tooth spacing) and the 2mm rule for keeping clear of th...
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Episode 118
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6:37
STOP Overpaying for Custom Abutments!
In this latest lecture, Dr. Robert Stanley dives deep into the emergence profile of single-unit implant crowns, comparing stock abutments and custom abutments. Dr. Rob presents a provocative argument: if the implant ...
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Episode 117
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5:04
The Hidden Weakness of All-on-4 (and How to FIX IT!)
In this episode of Implants Made Simple, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer, explains the difference between All-on-4 and All-on-More dental implant solutions. He breaks down how cyclic fatigue impacts implant longevity and why relying on o...
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Episode 116
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8:07
How to NAIL Primary Stability Every Time (5-Thread Rule)
In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer, introduces and explains the Five-Thread Guideline (5-TG): a new clinical rule for predicting primary stability with dental implants in both healed and fresh extraction sites. Drawi...
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Episode 115
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3:16
4 Things That Will RUIN Your Healing After Surgery
After surgery, healing is everything. In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer, breaks down the “4 S’s of Surgical Success” every patient needs to know:No spittingNo strawsNo sm...
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Episode 114
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5:34
If You’re NOT Taking Photos, You’re Falling BEHIND
If you’re not using photography in your dental practice, you’re missing one of the most powerful tools for continual growth and improvement. In this episode of Implants Made Simple, Dr. Robert Stanley, the Smile Engineer, explains why clinical ...
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Episode 113
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4:23
The Bell Curve Trap in Dentistry: Stop Settling for Average
The “standard of care” in dentistry often lands you right in the middle of the bell curve—average. But is average good enough for your patients? In this video, Dr. Robert Stanley, “The Smile Engineer®,” explains why staying in the middle isn’t ...
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Episode 112
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4:23
