Patent ID: 7236842

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a dental prosthesis, comprising: (a) providing at least one coping adapted for implantation at a dental site, the or each said at least one coping having a corresponding external surface; (b) providing a three-dimensional (3D) virtual model of said dental prosthesis comprising at least one virtual internal surface and at least one virtual prosthesis layer having a virtual external surface, the or each said at least one virtual internal surface being substantially complementary to a corresponding said external surface of the or each said coping, respectively; (c) generating computerized numerical control (CNC) instructions corresponding to the or each virtual external surface of said 3D model; (d) producing a set of wax models in association with said at least one coping, comprising at least one wax model, corresponding to the or each virtual prosthesis layer, each said wax model being produced by means of material removal operations carried out on an external wax surface of a corresponding wax layer provided on said coping or on a prosthesis layer previously formed over said coping, said material removal operations being based on said CNC instructions, (e) producing a dental prosthesis on said coping from said set of wax models.