Dental implant with coded upper surface

1. A method of using scan data of a dental implant pre-positioned in bone within a mouth of a patient to develop a virtual model for use in a virtual design process, comprising:

receiving scan data of the mouth of the patient including an upper surface of the dental implant, the scan data including information corresponding to scanning of a scannable code on the upper surface of the dental implant, wherein the scannable code provides information regarding an anti-rotational feature of the dental implant;

developing a virtual model of at least a portion of the mouth of the patient; and

using the information corresponding to scanning of a scannable code to locate a position of a central axis of a virtual implant within the virtual model and an angular orientation of the anti-rotational feature in the virtual model.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of scannable codes on a plurality of differently diametrically sized dental implants are commonly sized such that the relative dimensions of the scannable code to each dental implant's diameter is different and wherein the virtual implant is representative of at least a portion of the dental implant.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the portion includes the upper surface and the anti-rotational feature of the dental implant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scannable code includes a circumferentially extending marker.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a radius of curvature of the circumferentially extending maker is centered around a central axis of the dental implant.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein a radius of curvature provides a position of the central axis of the dental implant.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the scannable code includes a radially extending marker positioned on a location of the upper surface that is adjacent to the anti-rotational feature of the dental implant, wherein the anti-rotational feature is an internal structure that is within a bore of the dental implant, the location of the radially extending marker provides a rotational orientation of the anti-rotational feature.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the radially extending marker has a first length, the first length of the radially extending marker providing information of a first size dimension of the dental implant.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the radially extending marker includes a second length, the second length of the radially extending marker providing information of a second size dimension of the dental implant.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scannable code includes a barcode marker and wherein the anti-rotational feature is located on a surface of a threaded bore of the dental implant.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scan data comprises geometric and locational information for the dental implant relative to an adjacent soft tissue structure and/or tooth, a seating diameter of the dental implant, and a type of connection of the dental implant to a prosthesis and further including displaying, on a computer display, the virtual model.

12. The method of claim 1 , further including developing, by use of the virtual model, a patient-specific custom abutment, wherein the scan data comprises information relative to an interface coordinate system of the patient-specific custom abutment, a seating diameter of the dental implant, a type of connection to the patient-specific custom abutment, and an orientation of an anti-rotational connection of the anti-rotational feature of the dental implant.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the using comprising determining a location of the scannable code on the upper surface of the dental implant relative to a scanned circumference of the upper surface of the dental implant and matching the determined location of the scannable code relative to the scanned circumference against a library of implants to identify the dental implant and further including developing, by use of the virtual model, a prosthesis to be placed on the dental implant.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information from the scannable code provides features about the dental implant placed in the mouth of the patient, wherein the scannable code comprises information relating to a seating diameter of the dental implant, and wherein the features comprise a type of connection of the dental implant to a prosthesis.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scannable code provides information for at least one feature of the dental implant and wherein the at least one feature of the dental implant comprises a type of connection of the dental implant to a prosthesis.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scannable code provides information for at least two features of the dental implant and wherein the anti-rotational feature is located on a surface of a threaded bore of the dental implant.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least two features of the dental implant include a rotational orientation of the anti-rotational feature of the dental implant and a size dimension of the dental implant.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein one of the at least two features of the dental implant is an x-y location of the upper surface of the dental implant.

19. A method of using scan data of a dental implant pre-positioned in bone within a mouth of a patient to develop a virtual model for use in a virtual design process, comprising:

receiving scan data of the mouth of the patient including an upper surface of the dental implant, the scan data including information corresponding to a scannable code on the upper surface of the dental implant, wherein the scannable code provides information regarding an anti-rotational feature of the dental implant;

providing a display of a virtual model of at least a portion of the mouth of the patient on a computer display;

using the information corresponding to scanning of a scannable code to position a virtual implant within the virtual model and determine an angular orientation of the anti-rotational feature in the virtual model; and

developing, by use of the virtual model, a dental component to be placed on the dental implant.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the scan data comprises information relative to an interface coordinate system of the virtual model, a type of connection to the dental component, an orientation of an anti-rotational connection of the anti-rotational feature of the dental implant, and information relative to a seating diameter of the dental implant, wherein the scannable code includes a circumferentially extending marker having a radius of curvature that is centered around a central axis of the dental implant, and wherein the radius of curvature provides a position of the central axis to assist with the virtual design process.

21. A method of using scan data of a dental implant pre-positioned in bone within a mouth of a patient to develop a virtual model for use in a virtual design process, comprising:

receiving scan data of the mouth of the patient including an upper surface of the dental implant, the scan data including information corresponding to a scannable code on the upper surface of the dental implant;

developing a virtual model of at least a portion of the mouth of the patient; and

using the scan data to locate a virtual implant within the virtual model, wherein the scannable code includes a circumferentially extending marker and wherein a radius of curvature of the circumferentially extending marker provides a position of a central axis of the dental implant.