Patent Publication Number: US-2010129773-A1

Title: Engageable abutment for a tooth

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the invention 
     The present invention relates to an engageable abutment, and especially to an engageable abutment structure composed of a base and a sleeve and being connected between an implant root and a tooth crown in a surgical operation of a tooth. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     As to a dental implant surgical operation available presently,  FIG. 1  shows a structure for the dental implant surgical operation which mainly has a jawbone  91  missing a natural tooth  96  implanted therein in advance with an implant root  92  which is a screw shape fixture, and when the wounds of the implant root  92  and the jawbone  91  are healed, an abutment  93  is mounted on the implant root  92  with a bolt  95 , then the abutment  93  is mounted thereon with an artificial tooth crown  94 . 
     A conventional abutment  93  is a single piece member, it only is used as a connecting member between the tooth crown  94  and the implant root  92 . During the process of a surgical operation of a tooth, after the abutment  93  is mounted, a tooth mold shall be made to be sent to a factor for making a suitable tooth crown  94  that will be assembled on the abutment  93 . By virtue that an inner hole of the tooth crown  94  made with the tooth mold is subjected to having difference from the abutment  93 , so that difficulty often exists in assembling, if in a serious case, the tooth crown  94  is made once more. This is the defect resided in the structure of a conventional abutment, and improvement is required. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an engageable abutment against the defect of the conventional abutment, the engageable abutment is designed to have an engageable sleeve on a base; the engageable sleeve has three functions: 1. It is adapted to being formed thereover a contemporary tooth crown that can be used for waiting healing of gingiva. 2. It has the function of transfer copying, and can be taken out; when in cast making an eternal tooth crown, the eternal tooth crown can be directly shaped in the sleeve for the convenience of fast and accurate assembling of the eternal tooth crown on the base. 3. It can alternatively be provided thereover with an eternal movable artificial tooth. Therefore, the present invention has a plurality of functions beneficial to processing of a dental implant surgical operation. 
     Moreover, the engageable abutment provided in the present invention comprises a base and a sleeve, the base or the sleeve can be cut off a part to adjust height. 
     The present invention will be apparent in its structure and its effect of operation after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic sectional view showing a conventional dental implanting structure; 
         FIG. 2  is an anatomic perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a sectional view showing a base in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention after assembling; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic sectional view showing that the first embodiment of the present invention is mounting in gingival; 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5A  is a schematic sectional view showing that the base of  FIG. 5  is cut off a part to adjust height; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view showing another embodiment of sleeve of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6A  is a schematic sectional view showing that the sleeve of  FIG. 6  is cut off a part to adjust height; 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , an engageable abutment  1  of the present invention mainly comprises a base  11 , a sleeve  12  and a set of engaging mechanism, and is connected between an implant root  2  and a tooth crown  3 . 
     The base  11  of the present invention has therein a through hole  111  for extending through of a screw  112 , such as is shown in  FIG. 2 ; the base  11  thus can be connected and locked on the top of the implant root  2 , and a protruding portion  113  (referring also to  FIG. 4 ) is formed above the implant root  2 , the protruding portion  113  has on its lower end an embedding portion  114  to be embedded in the implant root  2 . The sleeve  12  can be formed thereover an eternal tooth crown or a contemporary tooth crown and is slipped over the protruding portion  113  of the base  11 . The set of engaging mechanism mainly includes a protruding ball  131  and at lease a recess  132 , the protruding ball  131  is provided in the sleeve  12 , for example, as shown in the drawing, it is provided in an upper inside area of the sleeve  12  to extend downwards; while the recess  132  engaging the protruding ball  131  is provided in the base  11 , in the drawing for instance, it is provided in and at a middle level of the through hole  111  in the base  11  which allows the screw  112  to be extended through. 
     After the sleeve  12  of the present invention is slipped over the protruding portion  113  of the base  11 , the protruding ball  131  in the sleeve  12  will be engaged by the recess  132  in the base  11  to render the sleeve  12  and the base  11  to be positioned and fixed. 
     In the structure of the present invention, the base  11  of the engageable abutment  1  is designed to have the sleeve  12  for engaging, the sleeve  12  has the following three functions: Firstly: the sleeve  12  is adapted to being formed on its outer surface a contemporary tooth crown that can be used for waiting healing of the implant root  2  and gingiva. Secondly: the sleeve  12  has the function of transfer copying, and can be taken out; when in cast making an eternal tooth crown, the eternal tooth crown can be directly shaped in the sleeve  12  for the convenience of fast and accurate assembling of the eternal tooth crown on the base  11 . And thirdly: the sleeve  12  can alternatively be provided thereover with an eternal movable artificial tooth. Therefore, the present invention has a plurality of functions beneficial to processing a dental implant surgical operation. 
     Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 5  which shows a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein the sleeve  12  is same as that of the first embodiment, but a plurality of recesses  132  are provided in the base  11  and are lined downwards from above along the through hole  111 . In this case, the base  11  can be cut off a part at any area between every two recesses  132  to adjust height, such as is shown in  FIG. 5A , wherein a dot and dash line represents a portion is cut out from  FIG. 5 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6  which shows another embodiment of sleeve  12  of the present invention, wherein the sleeve  12  is formed thereon apparently a plurality of annuluses  121 , as compared with  FIG. 6A , the sleeve  12  in  FIG. 6A  can be cut at the bottom of any annulus  121  to adjust height, such as is shown with a dot and dash line. 
     The base  11  and the sleeve  12  are designed to be adjustable in height to suit a particular tooth of a person in need of tooth implanting. 
     Surely, the protruding ball  131  of the present invention is not limited to being provided in an upper inside area of the sleeve  12 , as shown in  FIG. 7 , a protruding ball  131  is provided at the bottom edge of the sleeve  12 , while recesses  132  are provided on the outer surface of the base  11 ; the recesses  132  are also plural, they are arranged to be lined downwards from above along the base  11 , the base  11  can be cut at a position where any recess  132  is, in order to adjust height. 
     In conclusion, the engageable abutment of the present invention has a brand new structure and very improved effect; therefore, what we claim will be declared in the claims followed.