Patent ID: 8100692

Claim:
A method of generating a toolpath for manufacturing a dental framework to support a finished denture within a patient's mouth, the patient's mouth comprising a plurality of anchors embedded in the patient's mandible or maxilla, said framework being made from a stone cast with embedded analogs and a diagnostic wax-up, said diagnostic wax up replicating said finished denture, said stone cast being made from an impression having embedded copings, said impression being taken directly from said patient's mouth, wherein said framework further comprises a plurality of mating surfaces that are configured to engage the plurality of anchors, said framework further comprising a bridging structure that extends between and couples said plurality of mating surfaces together, the method comprising the steps of: attaching alignment posts having surface extensions to each of said analogs; digitally scanning said surface extensions including surfaces of said stone cast and said surfaces of said diagnostic wax up which represent surfaces of said mouth and said finished denture to generate a point cloud dataset; deriving the relative positions and orientations of said mating surfaces from said point cloud dataset; deriving the positions and orientations of the bridging structures from said point cloud dataset; generating a toolpath that is configured to generate said framework including said bridging structure and mating surfaces in their relative positions and orientations, permitting a computer controlled machine to manufacture said framework.