Dental Navigation System
IGI By Image Navigation
An implant surgeon recognized globally will oversee IGI clinical strategy, advanced surgical workflows, clinician training, and scientific assessment.
Navigation should become an integral part of the entire surgical workflow—not simply a guidance tool used during implant placement”— Dr. Sotiris Giakis- Chief Clinical OfficerNEW JERSEY, NJ, UNITED STATES, August 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Image Navigation announced today that internationally recognized implant surgeon Dr. Sotiris Giakis has been appointed Chief Clinical Officer (CCO), reinforcing the company’s clinical leadership as it pushes forward the development and market introduction of IGI, its real-time dynamic navigation system for dental implant surgery.
In this executive capacity, Dr. Giakis will guide the company’s clinical strategy, supervising the creation and assessment of advanced surgical workflows, global clinician education, and clinically meaningful scientific data. Collaborating closely with engineering, software, regulatory, and commercial groups, he will ensure that hands-on surgical experience directly shapes product development, training programs, and future innovations.
Based in Igoumenitsa, Greece, Dr. Giakis is an implant surgeon, educator, and digital dentistry authority. He instructs postgraduate implantology and advanced surgical methods at UCAM Catholic University of Murcia while running a referral practice devoted to advanced implant reconstruction, digital dentistry, and image-guided surgery, with particular skill in managing severely atrophic jaws.
Since incorporating IGI into his daily clinical routine in September 2025, Dr. Giakis has carried out more than 400 navigated clinical procedures using the platform. His work spans routine implant placement, complex full-arch rehabilitation, severe maxillary and mandibular atrophy, and the placement of zygomatic, pterygoid, and transnasal implants.
This broad clinical exposure has allowed him to assess IGI under challenging real-world surgical conditions while supplying Image Navigation’s engineering, software, product, and education teams with continuous, clinically grounded feedback.
Dr. Giakis has also investigated navigation-assisted workflows in selected oral surgical procedures beyond conventional dental implant placement, such as osteotomies linked to bone augmentation, maxillary sinus elevation, surgical management of impacted teeth, and complex apical surgery performed near critical anatomical structures.
In many of these cases, direct visualization of the operative target is limited during key treatment stages. Real-time navigation delivers continuous three-dimensional spatial orientation while maintaining the surgeon’s clinical judgment and accountability.
“Dr. Giakis has become one of the world’s most experienced users of IGI,” said Lawrence Obstfeld, Chief Executive Officer of Image Navigation. “His experience spans hundreds of cases across some of the most demanding indications in implant dentistry. His ability to transform clinical experience into better workflows, education and product development makes him uniquely qualified to lead our clinical strategy. His leadership is already helping shape the next generation of IGI.”
A major emphasis of Dr. Giakis’s work will be the creation of standardized, repeatable workflows for advanced implant surgery, especially full-arch rehabilitation and treatment of fully edentulous patients. These workflows incorporate prosthetically driven planning, real-time surgical navigation, postoperative evaluation, and structured clinician training, helping ensure that the ongoing evolution of IGI remains tightly linked to clinical usability, procedural efficiency, and patient safety.
Concurrently, Dr. Giakis is contributing to early-stage evaluation of navigation concepts for anatomically challenging endodontic procedures as part of Image Navigation’s broader investigation of future image-guided applications beyond implantology.
“Navigation should become an integral part of the entire surgical workflow—not simply a guidance tool used during implant placement,” said Dr. Sotiris Giakis. “Technology should evolve around the realities of surgery and the needs of clinicians and patients. My priority as Chief Clinical Officer is to ensure that clinical experience directly guides the evolution of IGI. The workflows we develop must be reproducible, and the evidence supporting them must be rigorous, clinically relevant and trusted by clinicians worldwide.”
Alongside his clinical and corporate duties, Dr. Giakis is actively engaged in postgraduate education in oral implantology, digital dentistry, and advanced surgical techniques through UCAM Catholic University of Murcia. His academic pursuits also include advanced postgraduate training in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, complementing his clinical interests in tissue regeneration and reconstructive medicine.
Dr. Giakis’s appointment underscores Image Navigation’s dedication to embedding experienced clinical leadership directly into product development, guaranteeing that future innovations in IGI remain driven by technological excellence, clinical usability, scientific rigor, and patient safety.
About Image Navigation:
Image Navigation creates IGI, a real-time dynamic surgical navigation platform intended for dental implantology and future image-guided surgical uses. IGI links digital treatment planning with real-time intraoperative navigation, enabling clinicians to continuously see the position, angle, and depth of surgical instruments relative to the patient’s three-dimensional anatomy during the entire procedure.
The platform merges proprietary high-speed tracking with no detectable lag, patient-to-image synchronization via MiniLOCK™ technology, and workflow innovations aimed at improving surgical precision, efficiency, and clinician confidence. Image Navigation is dedicated to advancing image-guided surgery through clinical innovation, scientific evaluation, workflow development, and clinician education.
Lawrence Obstfeld
Image Navigation LTD
+1 646-741-2103
lawrence@image-navigation.COM
