Patent ID: 8944818
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: A61C

Abstract:
1. A method of creating a patient-specific abutment to be coupled to an implant installed in a mouth of a patient, the method comprising: non-rotationally attaching a temporary abutment to the implant, the temporary abutment including (i) at least one retention groove (ii) at least one informational marker indicative of one or more characteristics of the implant and (iii) a flange, at least a portion of the flange having a curved shape for shaping gingival tissue in an anatomic fashion; snap-fitting a temporary abutment cap on the temporary abutment such that (i) the temporary abutment cap is removable therefrom, (ii) the temporary abutment cap at least partially obscures the at least one informational marker of the temporary abutment, and (iii) a bottom end of the temporary abutment cap aligns with the flange to provide a continuous extension of the curved shape of the flange for shaping the gingival tissue in an anatomic fashion, the at least one retention groove extending circumferentially about the temporary abutment to aid axial retention of the temporary abutment cap to the temporary abutment; attaching a temporary prosthesis to the temporary abutment cap; after a sufficient period of time during which the gingival tissue surrounding the temporary prosthesis, the temporary abutment cap, and the temporary abutment has healed, removing the temporary prosthesis and the temporary abutment cap from the temporary abutment; after the removing, scanning at least a portion of the mouth including the temporary abutment to generate scan data; from the scan data, obtaining emergence profile information for the gingival tissue adjacent to the temporary abutment and informational marker information from the temporary abutment; based on the emergence profile information for the gingival tissue and the informational marker information, creating a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the mouth; and designing a patient-specific abutment from the three-dimensional model.