Robotic device for dental surgery

1. A method of creating a post-operative virtual model of at least a portion of a mouth of a patient, the mouth including a dental implant installed using a robotic system during a dental surgical procedure, the method comprising:

attaching a rigid grounding member to a fixed position within the mouth of the patient;

obtaining a pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient with the rigid grounding member therein;

coupling a grounding arm of the robotic system to the rigid grounding member in the mouth of the patient, thereby establishing an origin for the mouth of the patient;

moving, as part of the dental surgical procedure, at least a portion of a working arm of the robotic system coupled to a dental-implant-driving tool to install the dental implant in the mouth of the patient;

monitoring, during the dental surgical procedure, a position of the grounding arm and the working arm to generate positional data related to the location of the dental-implant-driving tool relative to the established origin; and

creating, without scanning, a post-operative virtual model of the at least a portion of the mouth of the patient based on the obtained pre-operative virtual model and the generated positional data, the post-operative virtual model including a virtual dental implant that corresponds to a location and orientation of the dental implant in the mouth of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the creating the post-operative virtual model occurs without use of a scanning abutment coupled to the installed dental implant.

3. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the creating the post-operative virtual model of the at least a portion of the mouth of the patient includes modifying the pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient to include at least a portion of a virtual model of the dental implant installed in the mouth of the patient.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the working arm is coupled to the grounding arm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the working arm and the grounding arm are both electronically coupled to one or more processors of the robotic system.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to the moving, determining an invisible boundary wall to be established around a pre-determined location for the dental implant to be installed in the mouth of the patient; and

during the moving, automatically enforcing the determined invisible boundary wall by preventing the working arm of the robotic system to be moved in a manner that would cause the dental implant to be installed outside of the determined invisible boundary wall.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rigid grounding arm of the robotic system is coupled to the rigid grounding member after the pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient is obtained.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rigid grounding member includes a body and a coupling post extending from the body.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the coupling post includes a receiving bore having a first central axis, wherein the origin for the mouth of the patient is positioned along the first central axis.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the origin for the mouth is a single origin.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the grounding arm includes a grounding probe configured to couple to the rigid grounding member in a removable and repeatable fashion.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the grounding probe includes a coupling end, the coupling end including a pair of biased locking bearings that are biased outward away from a second central axis of the coupling end of the grounding probe.

13. A method of creating a post-operative virtual model of at least a portion of a mouth of a patient, the mouth including a dental implant installed using a robotic system during a dental surgical procedure, the method comprising:

attaching a rigid grounding member to a fixed position within the mouth of the patient;

obtaining a pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient with the rigid grounding member therein;

coupling, after the pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient is obtained, a grounding arm of the robotic system to the rigid grounding member in the mouth of the patient, thereby establishing an origin for the mouth of the patient;

moving, as part of the dental surgical procedure, at least a portion of a working arm of the robotic system coupled to a dental-implant-driving tool to install the dental implant in the mouth of the patient;

monitoring, during the dental surgical procedure, a position of the grounding arm and the working arm to generate positional data related to the location of the dental-implant-driving tool relative to the established origin; and

creating, without scanning, the post-operative virtual model of the at least a portion of the mouth of the patient based on the obtained pre-operative virtual model and the generated positional data, the post-operative virtual model including a virtual dental implant that corresponds to a location and orientation of the dental implant in the mouth of the patient.

14. A method of creating a post-operative virtual model of at least a portion of a mouth of a patient, the mouth including a dental implant installed using a robotic system during a dental surgical procedure, the method comprising:

attaching a rigid grounding member to a fixed position within the mouth of the patient;

obtaining a pre-operative virtual model of the mouth of the patient with the rigid grounding member therein;

coupling a grounding arm of the robotic system to the rigid grounding member in the mouth of the patient, thereby establishing an origin for the mouth of the patient;

determining an invisible boundary wall to be established around a pre-determined location for the dental implant to be installed in the mouth of the patient;

moving, semi-manually and as part of the dental surgical procedure, at least a portion of a working arm of the robotic system coupled to a dental-implant-driving tool to install the dental implant in the mouth of the patient;

during the moving, automatically enforcing the determined invisible boundary wall by providing an indication to a user that the working arm of the robotic system is to be moved outside of the determined invisible boundary wall;

monitoring, during the dental surgical procedure, a position of the grounding arm and the working arm to generate positional data related to the location of the dental-implant-driving tool relative to the established origin; and

creating, without scanning, the post-operative virtual model of the at least a portion of the mouth of the patient based on the obtained pre-operative virtual model and the generated positional data, the post-operative virtual model including a virtual dental implant that corresponds to a location and orientation of the dental implant in the mouth of the patient.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein providing the indication to the user can include at least one of:

preventing the working arm of the robotic system to be moved outside the invisible boundary wall; and

providing tactile feedback to the user indicating that the working arm is to be moved outside the invisible boundary wall.

16. The method of claim 14 , further including:

displaying to the user a virtual invisible boundary wall relative to the pre-operative virtual model, the virtual invisible boundary wall corresponding to the invisible boundary wall.