Dr. Pav Khaira, a special collaboration with The Dental Implant Podcast
Episode summary
In this crossover episode of the ZAGA Centers Podcast, released jointly with The Dental Implant Podcast, host Dr. Pav Khaira discusses with David Pastorino the discipline required to become a zygomatic implant surgeon. Khaira, a full-arch implant dentist at Evo Dental and long-time implantologist, describes a deliberately slow, mentored training path: he has assisted roughly 50 zygomatic cases and operated single sides alongside his mentor, and he stresses that muscle memory from supervised operating cannot be rushed. He argues that for the severely atrophic maxilla, zygomatic and pterygoid implants are more predictable and far faster than large sinus grafts, which can add twelve months and multiple surgeries. Khaira frames zygomatic implants as one integral tool within a broader toolkit and insists that patient benefit, not surgeon ego or social-media case-hunting, must drive treatment decisions.
Key takeaways
- Dr. Pav Khaira hosts The Dental Implant Podcast and started it to share knowledge and counter misinformation in implant dentistry.
- For a severely atrophic maxilla, large sinus grafting can add about twelve months and multiple rounds of surgery before teeth are delivered, whereas zygomatic and pterygoid implants can provide fixed teeth in a day.
- Published data suggest large sinus lifts with implants are less predictable than using remote anchorage sites such as the pterygoid and zygomatic bone.
- Khaira advocates a mentored, incremental training pathway: he has assisted around 50 zygomatic implant cases and performed single sides alongside his mentor before operating independently.
- A growing wave of failed or aging all-on-four cases is creating demand for remedial and revision therapy, for which zygomatic implants are often the only remaining solution.
- Zygomatic implants are best understood as one integral part of a full-arch toolkit that also includes pterygoid, short and standard implants.
- Khaira argues treatment decisions must be patient-centered, with the surgeon's ego and business interests set aside, rather than driven by placing the most or trickiest implants for social media.
What you'll learn
- Why remote-anchorage implants (zygomatic, pterygoid) are more predictable than large sinus grafts for the severely atrophic maxilla
- The mentored, step-by-step pathway to zygomatic competence: assisting ~50 cases, then operating side-by-side with a mentor before flying solo
- Handling the rising wave of failed or aging all-on-four cases that need remedial and revision therapy
- Positioning zygomatic implants within a full toolkit alongside pterygoid, short and standard implants
- Patient-centered decision-making: fixed teeth in a day versus a 12-month multi-surgery grafting delay
About the guest
Dr. Pav Khaira
Dr. Pav Khaira is a UK-based dental implant surgeon and the host of The Dental Implant Podcast, which he launched to give back to the profession and counter misinformation in implant dentistry. He has placed implants for over ten years and, at the time of recording, practiced full-arch rehabilitation at Evo Dental, where the team routinely uses pterygoid implants. Having attended the ZAGA Course, he is progressing through a structured, mentored pathway toward expertise in zygomatic implants.
Credentials: Host, The Dental Implant Podcast; full-arch implant dentist (Evo Dental at time of recording); ZAGA Course attendee
drpavkhaira.co.uk · LinkedIn · podcasts.apple.com · academyofimplantexcellence.com
