Healing components for use in taking impressions and methods for making the same

1. A method of developing a custom abutment, comprising:

attaching an attachment member to a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, the attachment member being a unitary member and including a top surface comprising at least one feature indicative of first and second characteristics of the dental implant, the attachment member being configured to mate with only the dental implant when the attachment member is attached to the dental implant such that the top surface of the attachment member is free to directly contact impression material;

taking an impression of an area of the mouth of the patient, the impression including teeth impressions and a structure impression having physical informational marker impressions that correspond to the at least one feature of the attachment member;

scanning at least a part of the impression of the area of the mouth to determine, by using the structure impression, the first and second characteristics of the dental implant to gather information for manufacturing the custom abutment; and

developing the custom abutment based on the information from the first and second characteristics of the dental implant.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attachment member is a gingival healing abutment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second characteristics provide information regarding a location of the dental implant.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first and second characteristics provide information regarding a location of a polygonal fitting of the dental implant.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second characteristics provide information regarding a location and an orientation of a polygonal fitting of the dental implant.

6. A method of manufacturing a custom dental abutment for mating with a dental implant, comprising:

attaching an attachment member to the dental implant, the attachment member having an upper surface with features that indicate at least two characteristics of the dental implant installed in bone of a patient, the attachment member being configured to mate with only the dental implant when the attachment member is attached to the dental implant such that the upper surface of the attachment member is free to directly contact impression material that is used for preparing a model;

by use of the impression material that directly contacts the upper surface of the attachment member, preparing the model of the patient's dental conditions, the model including teeth models and a structure having a continuous top surface, the continuous top surface having physical informational markers that correspond to the features of the attachment member;

scanning at least a portion of the model of the patient's dental conditions that includes the structure having the continuous top surface with the physical informational markers;

generating scan data from the scanning of the at least a portion of the model;

creating a three-dimensional image of the patient's dental conditions with the scan data;

determining the physical informational markers of the model to gather information of the at least two characteristics of the dental implant;

developing custom-abutment dimensional information based on the three-dimensional image and the information gathered from the physical informational markers; and

fabricating the custom dental abutment utilizing the custom-abutment dimensional information.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the attachment member is a gingival healing abutment.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the features on the attachment member are binary-coded marker features.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the physical informational markers on the model are binary-coded markers.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the physical informational markers on the model are one of the group selected from positive informational markers, negative informational markers, and a notch.

11. A method of manufacturing a custom abutment for attachment to a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, comprising:

taking an impression of at least a portion of the mouth, the mouth at least including a gingival healing abutment and adjacent teeth, the gingival healing abutment having at least one informational marker that indicates information regarding characteristics of the dental implant;

creating a physical model from the impression, the physical model including a replica of the at least one informational marker and a replica of at least a portion of the adjacent teeth;

scanning the physical model to obtain scanned data from the replica of the at least one informational marker and the replica of the at least a portion of the adjacent teeth;

creating a three-dimensional model from the scanned data; and

developing custom-abutment data based on the scanned data, the custom-abutment data for fabricating the custom abutment.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one informational marker is at least one of a binary coded marker, a positive informational marker, a negative informational marker, and a notch.

13. The method of claim 11 , further including fabricating the custom abutment on a milling machine utilizing the custom-abutment data.

14. A method of creating a custom abutment for attachment to a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, comprising:

preparing the mouth for three-dimensional modeling, the mouth at least including teeth, gingival tissue, the dental implant, and a gingival healing abutment, the gingival healing abutment having at least one informational marker that indicates information regarding characteristics of the dental implant;

creating a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the mouth including the gingival healing abutment;

creating a modified three-dimensional model including a three dimensional model of the custom abutment;

producing the custom abutment from the modified three-dimensional model including transmitting the modified three-dimensional model to a milling machine capable of producing the custom abutment;

placing a prosthetic tooth over the custom abutment; and

securing the custom abutment to the dental implant in the mouth.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the dental implant has an exposed end to which the gingival healing abutment is attached and an end implanted in a jawbone of the patient.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the preparing the mouth for three-dimensional modeling includes: placing the gingival healing abutment on the exposed end of the dental implant.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the preparing the mouth for three-dimensional modeling includes: (i) installing the dental implant within a jawbone of the patient, the dental implant having an exposed end and an end implanted in the jawbone; and (ii) placing the gingival healing abutment on the exposed end of the dental implant.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the creating a modified three-dimensional model includes determining the location and dimensions of the dental implant based on the information from the at least one informational marker.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the location of the dental implant provides an orientation of a non-rotational feature of the dental implant.

20. A method of creating a custom prosthesis for attachment to a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, the method comprising:

taking an impression of an area of the mouth of the patient including picking up a scanning member such that the scanning member is included in the impression, the scanning member including features for identifying the location and orientation of the dental implant in the mouth;

scanning at least a part of the impression of the area of the mouth to obtain scan data, the scanned part of the impression including the features of the scanning member that identifies the location and orientation of the dental implant in the mouth;

based on the scan data, creating a three-dimensional model of the mouth including a region near the location of the dental implant;

determining a location of the dental implant in the mouth based at least on the scan data;

depicting a virtual dental implant in the three-dimensional model at the determined location for the dental implant installed in the mouth; and

developing custom-prosthesis data based on the three-dimensional model having the virtual dental implant.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising, prior to taking the impression, attaching an attachment member to the dental implant.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising attaching the scanning member to the attachment member prior to being picked up in the impression that is scanned such that the scanning member is coupled to the dental implant via the attachment member.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the attachment member is a healing abutment.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the features of the scanning member are located on an inside surface of the scanning member.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the features of the scanning member are configured to mate with corresponding features on an outside surface of the attachment member such that the scanning member is configured to mate with the attachment member in only a single orientation.