Patent ID: 8855800

Claim:
A dental component for use in the process of creating a tooth-like dental restoration to be attached to a dental implant that is installed in bone in a patient's mouth, comprising: a rapid prototype model of the patient's mouth created from a three-dimensional computer model of the patient's mouth, the three-dimensional computer model created by scanning the patient's mouth that includes a scanable member attached to the dental implant for locating the dental implant within the patient's mouth, the rapid prototype model including a plurality of tooth-shaped structures corresponding to teeth in the patient's mouth, the rapid prototype model including a surface having a receptacle extending into the rapid prototype model; and an implant analog positioned within the receptacle of the rapid prototype model, the implant analog being at a location on the rapid prototype model relative to the tooth-shaped structures that substantially corresponds to a location of the dental implant relative to the teeth in the patient's mouth, the tooth-like dental restoration being coupled to the implant analog during the process of creating the tooth-like dental restoration.