Patent ID: 8875398

Claim:
A method for producing a prosthetic tooth support framework including a horizontal beam, vertical support struts and implant prosthetic connectors comprising the steps of: constructing a working model of at least a portion of a human dental arch; arranging pre-manufactured teeth on said model to create a prototype setup representing a finished prosthesis, said teeth each including an axial internal keyway for receiving a key; inserting a plurality of keys into a closely fitting keyway of the teeth forming keyed tooth pairs, an attachment portion of each key extending from a base of each tooth; holding said keyed tooth pairs in a setup location adjacent a dental arch defined by said model, said model including implant prosthetic connectors; affixing said key attachment portions onto a horizontal beam and said implant prosthetic connectors while held in said setup location during the formation of a beam assembly; removing the teeth from the beam assembly leaving a framework pattern; and constructing a finished prosthetic tooth framework using said beam assembly as a pattern, the pattern keys each matching the configuration and location of the permanent teeth support struts of said finished framework.