Patent ID: 7086860

Claim:
In a model tomographic dental implant placement system, a method for positioning a dental implant comprising the steps of: obtaining one or more graphic representations of a proposed implant site; collecting bone and tissue data; forming a model of the proposed dental implant site for depicting dental implant site data; recording the bone and tissue data on the model, wherein the recording step includes the substeps of: placing a preliminary mark on the plaster-like cast at a proposed functional and aesthetic location for the implant; using a film implant silhouette to determine the preferred lateral direction and size of the dental implant; drawing one or more adjacent root angulations lines on the plaster cast; cutting the plaster-like cast substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis through the preliminary mark at the appropriate distance and angulations of adjacent teeth and providing a leading segment and trailing segment of the plaster cast; exposing by the cutting substep an inner planar surface on both the leading segment and the trailing segment; drawing a graphic on at least one inner planar surface showing soft tissue and hard tissue data; placing the film implant silhouette against the graphic to determine the preferred axial direction of the dental implant at the proposed implant site and sizing of the dental implant; marking dots on the graphic through holes on the film implant silhouette the center top and center apex locations; drawing a directional line between the dots to disclose the optimal location of the dental implant at the proposed dental implant site; forming a groove on the planar surface coincident with the directional line dimensionally consistent with the sizing of the dental implant to identify the proper position of the dental implant in the x-, y-, and z-axes within the dental implant site; selecting a plurality of pin positioning tools for locating an insert channel at the proposed implant site; locating a pin in the model consistent with the bone and tissue data; and shaping a form to transfer the pin axes to the implant site.