Patent ID: 7364430

Claim:
A dental implant system for use in installing a dental implant in a hole in an alveolar bone of a maxilla, adjacent a sinus cavity having a sinus membrane lining the sinus cavity, the hole being formed with a bridge portion separating the hole from a bottom surface of a sinus cavity wall, the dental implant system comprising: a scoring device including a circular shaft with a circular scoring structure formed at a top end of the shaft, the scoring structure including a raised scoring edge formed around a circumference of a concavity formed within the scoring structure, wherein the scoring structure has an outer diameter that is less than an outer diameter of the shaft, and wherein the scoring device further includes a radially outwardly extending step-shaped lip formed intermediate the scoring structure and the shaft, and wherein the scoring structure is configured to cut a score for use in separating the bridge portion from the sinus cavity wall to form an overhang portion along a side of the hole, adjacent an upper opening of the hole; a first lifting device including a circular shaft, a circular lifting portion of a first height positioned adjacent a top end of the shaft, and a radially outwardly extending lip formed intermediate the shaft and the lifting portion, wherein an outer diameter of the shaft of the first lifting device is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the shaft of the scoring device, and an outer diameter of the lifting portion is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the scoring structure of the scoring device, and wherein the lip of the first lifting device is complimentarily step-shaped to the lip of the scoring device and to the overhang portion, such that the first lifting device is configured to be inserted into the hole until the lip contacts the overhang portion, to thereby position the bridge portion at a first predetermined lift distance into the sinus cavity.