Patent Document ID: 8998614
Application ID: 13554936
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of locating a dental implant analog in a physical model of a patient's mouth for use in creating a tooth prosthesis, comprising: generating scan data corresponding to structures in the patient's mouth, the structures including at least one tooth and an informational marker indicating the location of a dental implant previously installed within the patient's mouth; creating a three-dimensional computer model of the patient's mouth using the scan data; fabricating a rapid-prototype implant-analog placement structure based on the three-dimensional computer model, the rapid-prototype implant-analog placement structure to be fitted on the physical model of the patient's mouth; coupling the dental implant analog to the rapid-prototype implant-analog placement structure; and registering the rapid-prototype implant-analog placement structure on the physical model of the patient's mouth, the registering directly causing the dental implant analog to be located within the physical model at a position corresponding to the location of the dental implant previously installed in the patient's mouth based on the scan data.