Granted Patent E1

US 50,859 · App. 17/974,446 · Granted Apr 14, 2026

Inventors: Zachary B. Suttin (Jupiter, FL); Stephen M. Herrington (Naples, FL); Ross W. Towse (San Marcos, CA)

Assignee: Biomet 3i, LLC

A61C13/34A61B6/032A61B6/51A61C1/084A61C8/00A61C9/0053A61C13/00A61C13/08

Abstract

Claims (23)

1 . A method of manufacturing a permanent prosthesis for attachment to a dental implant installed in a mouth of a patient, the method comprising:

fabricating a patient specific temporary prosthesis (PSTP), a supragingival portion of the PSTP having a customized anatomical tooth shape;

scanning, outside of the mouth of the patient, the PSTP to obtain scan data;

attaching the PSTP to the dental implant in the mouth of the patient;

permitting gingival tissue surrounding the PSTP to heal in the mouth of the patient for a healing time period; and

in response to gingival healing the gingival tissue surrounding the PSTP healing during the healing time period:

physically modifying the PSTP by (i) removing material from the PSTP, (ii) adding material to the PSTP, or (iii) both to form a physically modified PSTP;

scanning the physically modified PSTP to obtain modified scan data; and

manufacturing the permanent prosthesis using the obtained modified scan data such that all outer contours of the permanent prosthesis replicate all outer contours of the physically modified PSTP.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the scanning, outside of the mouth of the patient, the PSTP to obtain scan data, attaching a scanning aid to an implant connection of the PSTP, the scanning aid including a portion with a known feature for use in identifying the location of the implant connection of the PSTP.

3 . A method of manufacturing a permanent prosthesis for attachment to a dental implant installed in a mouth of a patient, the method comprising:

fabricating a patient specific temporary prosthesis (PSTP), a supragingival portion of the PSTP having a customized anatomical tooth shape;

generating scan data from a scan of the PSTP outside the mouth of the patient; and

subsequent to the PSTP being attached to the dental implant installed in the mouth of the patient and gingival tissue surrounding the PSTP being permitted to heal in the mouth of the patient for a healing time period, generating modified scan data from a scan of a physically modified PSTP, the PSTP being physically modified PSTP formed by physically modifying the PSTP in response to gingival healing during the healing time period; and

manufacturing the permanent prosthesis, based on the physically modified PSTP such that all outer contours of the permanent prosthesis replicate all outer contours of the physically modified PSTP.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising transmitting the generated modified scan data to a milling machine and manufacturing the permanent prosthesis using the transferred transmitted modified scan data such that all outer contours of the permanent prosthesis replicate all outer contours of the physically modified PSTP.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing the PSTP from the mouth of the patient.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the physically modifying occurs prior to the PSTP being removed from the mouth of the patient, after the PSTP is removed from the mouth of the patient, or both.

7. A method of manufacturing a permanent prosthesis for attachment to a dental implant installed in a mouth of a patient, the method comprising:

fabricating a patient specific temporary prosthesis (PSTP), a supragingival portion of the PSTP having a customized anatomical tooth shape;

subsequent to generating scan data from a scan of the PSTP outside the mouth of the patient, processing the generated scan data;

subsequent to the PSTP being attached to the dental implant installed in the mouth of the patient and gingival tissue surrounding the PSTP being permitted to heal in the mouth of the patient for a healing time period and generating modified scan data from a scan of a physically modified PSTP formed by physically modifying the PSTP in response to gingival healing during the healing time period, processing the modified scan data; and

manufacturing the permanent prosthesis based on the physically modified PSTP in the modified scan data such that all outer contours of the permanent prosthesis replicate all outer contours of the physically modified PSTP.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)