Method for manufacturing dental implant components

1. A method of manufacturing a rapid prototype of a patient's dentition for use in creating a patient specific prosthetic comprising the acts of:

taking an impression of a mouth including a first installation site having a dental implant installed in the first installation site and a gingival healing abutment having at least one informational marker attached to the dental implant;

preparing a stone model based on the impression, the stone model including teeth models and model markers indicative of the at least one informational marker;

scanning the model;

generating scan data from the scanning of the model;

transferring the scan data to a CAD program;

creating a three-dimensional model of the installation site on the CAD program using the scan data;

determining the at least one informational marker to gather information for manufacturing the rapid prototype of the patient's dentition;

developing the rapid prototype dimensional information based on the three-dimensional image and the at least one informational marker;

transferring the rapid prototype dimensional information to a rapid prototyping machine; and

fabricating the rapid prototype of the patient's dentition including a dental implant analog receptacle on the rapid prototyping machine using the rapid prototype dimensional information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including placing a dental implant analog within the dental implant analog receptacle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing a dental implant analog on the rapid prototyping machine using the rapid prototype dimensional information.

4. The method of claim 1 , further including

obtaining soft tissue element dimensional information based on the three-dimensional image and the at least one informational marker;

generating soft tissue element mold dimensional information based on the soft tissue element dimensional information; and

creating a soft tissue element from the soft tissue element mold dimensional information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including

developing custom-abutment dimensional information based on the three-dimensional image and the information gathered from the at least one informational marker;

transferring the custom-abutment dimensional information to a milling machine; and

fabricating the custom-abutment on the milling machine utilizing the custom-abutment dimensional information.

6. A method of creating a dental laboratory model upon which a prosthetic tooth is created comprising:

scanning a model of a patient's mouth having a replicated portion of a healing abutment;

creating a CAD model from data acquired by the scanning;

using a rapid prototype technique to create the dental laboratory model from the CAD model, the dental laboratory model including an implant analog at a location corresponding to the replicated portion of the healing abutment.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the scanning is one of a laser scanning technique, a mechanical sensing technique, a photographic scanning technique, and a stereophotographic imaging technique.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a stereolithographic rapid prototype technique.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a laminate object manufacturing rapid prototype technique.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a selective laser sintering rapid prototype technique.

11. A method of creating a dental laboratory model upon which a prosthetic tooth is created comprising:

scanning a patient's mouth including a portion of a healing abutment;

creating a CAD model from data acquired by the scanning; and

using a rapid prototype technique to create the dental laboratory model from the CAD model, the dental laboratory model including an implant analog at a location corresponding to the portion of the healing abutment.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the scanning is one of a laser scanning technique, a mechanical sensing technique, a photographic scanning technique, and a stereophotographic imaging technique.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a stereolithographic rapid prototype technique.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a laminate object manufacturing rapid prototype technique.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a selective laser sintering rapid prototype technique.

16. A method for creating a prosthesis for an implantation site in a patient's mouth comprising:

taking an impression of the patient's mouth at the implantation site, the impression including an impressed area corresponding to a healing abutment attached to an implant at the implantation site;

creating a stone model from the impression;

developing a computer model from the stone model;

creating a custom dental abutment on the computer model;

creating a rapid prototype model from the computer model;

attaching the dental abutment to the rapid prototype model; and

forming tooth-like material around the abutment.

17. A method of creating a dental laboratory model upon which a prosthetic tooth is created, comprising:

scanning a patient's mouth including a portion of a component attached to an underlying implant to which the prosthetic tooth is to be coupled, the component providing information regarding the underlying implant;

creating a CAD model from data acquired by the scanning;

designing a patient-specific abutment to be attached to the implant by use of the CAD model; and

using a rapid prototype technique to create the dental laboratory model from the CAD model, the dental laboratory model including a patient-specific abutment portion that corresponds to the patient-specific abutment.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the scanning is one of a laser scanning technique, a mechanical sensing technique, a photographic scanning technique, and a stereophotographic imaging technique.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a stereolithographic rapid prototype technique.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the component is a healing abutment.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the healing abutment includes an upper surface with information markers, the information markers providing the information regarding the underlying implant.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the component includes an upper surface with information markers, the information markers providing the information regarding the underlying implant.

23. The method of claim 17 , further including creating the prosthetic tooth on the patient-specific abutment portion of the dental laboratory model, the prosthetic tooth to be mounted on the patient-specific abutment.

24. A method of creating a dental laboratory model upon which a prosthetic tooth is created, comprising:

scanning a patient's mouth including a portion of an attachment member that is attached to a dental implant installed in the patient's mouth, the attachment member including at least one information marker for providing location information about the dental implant to which the attachment member is attached;

creating a CAD model from data acquired by the scanning, the data including information-marker data associated with the information marker; and

using a rapid prototype technique to create the dental laboratory model from the CAD model, the dental laboratory model including an implant analog at a location corresponding to the implant in the patient's mouth.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the information marker further provides information pertaining to the orientation of the implant.

26. The method of claim 24 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a stereolithographic rapid prototype technique.

27. The method of claim 24 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a laminate object manufacturing rapid prototype technique.

28. The method of claim 24 , wherein the rapid prototype technique is a selective laser sintering rapid prototype technique.

29. The method of claim 24 , wherein the attachment member is a healing abutment.

30. The method of claim 24 , further comprising adding a compliant soft tissue element to the dental laboratory model in a region adjacent to the implant analog.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the compliant soft tissue element is made by the rapid prototyping technique.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the material comprising the compliant soft tissue element is different than a base material of the rapid-prototyped dental laboratory model.

33. The method of claim 31 , wherein the compliant soft tissue element surrounds the implant analog and includes a receptacle leading to the implant analog.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the attachment member is a healing abutment and the receptacle simulates the shape of the soft tissue in the patient's mouth.

35. The method of claim 24 , wherein the implant analog is made of rapid-prototyped material within the rapid-prototyped dental laboratory model.

36. The method of claim 24 , wherein the implant analog is inserted into an implant analog receptacle in the rapid-prototyped dental laboratory model.

37. The method of claim 17 , further comprising adding a compliant soft tissue element to the dental laboratory model in a region adjacent to the patient-specific abutment portion.

38. The method of claim 37 , wherein the compliant soft tissue element is made by the rapid prototype technique.