Assisted dental implant treatment and replication system

1. A system, for planning an oral or facial endosseous implantation in a patient, comprising:

processor;

a bone imaging module that can communicate bone data to the processor;

the bone data representative of at least a portion of a bone of the skull of the patient;

a surface imaging module that can communicate surface data to the processor, the surface data representative of at least a portion of a surface, of the patient, that is apart from the bone;

wherein the processor can process the bone data and the surface data into an output comprising three-dimensional (3-D) virtual representation data indicative of at least one of the group consisting of an oral structure and a facial structure of the patient;

a computer-controlled fabricator that can produce, based on the 3-D virtual representation data, a physical model of the at least one of the group consisting of the patient's oral structure and facial structure, the physical model indicating a planned location of an endosseous implant; and

a replicator device which is structured to use a non-metal custom shaped abutment created from the physical model and drill an outer surface, circumferential pattern of the non-metal custom shaped abutment onto a metal, permanent blank giving the blank the same outer surface shape as the non-metal custom shaped abutment.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a hole in the model indicates the planned location of the endosseous implant.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a surgical module that, based on the 3-D representation data, guides implantation of the endosseous implant in the patient.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the bone comprises at least one of the group consisting of the mandible and the maxilla of the patient, and wherein the surface comprises an oral surface.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the oral surface comprises a surface of at least one of the group consisting of a gingiva, a tooth, and a dental prosthetic.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a treatment planning module that, based on a combination of the 3-D representation data and input received from a treatment planner, outputs a treatment plan to a machine-readable medium, the treatment plan comprising a parameter for a planned hole in the portion of the bone;

wherein the planned hole is configured to receive the endosseous implant; and

wherein the parameter comprises at least one of the group consisting of a spatial location, a depth, a diameter, and an angular orientation of the planned hole.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the treatment planning module determines, based on at least one of the group consisting of a measured density, a measured absorption, and a measured intensity of a region of the portion of the bone, at least one of the group consisting of a number of planned holes and the parameter.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the fabrication module uses the input received from the treatment planner to produce the non-metal physical model.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising the physical model.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the fabrication module comprises a milling machine that produces the non-metal physical model.

11. The system of claim 6 , wherein the treatment planner comprises a human user.

12. The system of claim 6 , wherein the treatment planner comprises a computer program.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising the computer program.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the surface data are derived from imaging of a cast of oral structures of the patient.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the imaging of the cast of the oral structures comprises imaging with at least one of the group consisting of computed tomography, x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging, acoustic imaging, and optical coherence tomography.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the surface data are derived from imaging of oral structures of the patient.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the imaging of the oral structures comprises imaging with at least one of computed tomography, x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging, acoustic imaging, and optical coherence tomography.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the bone data are derived from imaging by at least one of computed tomography, x-ray, and magnetic resonance imaging.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein one imaging device comprises both the bone imaging module and the surface imaging module.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fabrication module comprises a milling machine that produces the non-metal physical model.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the metal, permanent blank is a titanium blank.

22. A system, for planning an oral or facial endosseous implantation in a patient, comprising:

a processor;

a bone imaging module that can communicate bone data to the processor;

the bone data representative of at least a portion of a bone of the skull of the patient;

a surface imaging module that can communicate surface data to the processor, the surface data representative of at least a portion of a surface of the patient that is apart from the bone;

wherein the processor can process the bone data and the surface data into an output comprising three-dimensional (3-D) virtual representation data indicative of at least one of an oral structure and a facial structure of the patient, the 3-D virtual representation data being different from the bone data alone and different from the surface data alone; and

a surgical module that, based on the 3-D virtual representation data, can guide implantation of an endosseous implant in the patient;

a computer-controlled fabricator that is structured such that, based on the 3-D virtual representation data, it can create a machined master replica of the at least a portion of the surface of the patient;

a non-metal abutment piece; and

a replicator device structured such that it can replicate the non-metal abutment piece as a metal abutment piece.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the machined master replica includes an installed implant analog.

24. A method, of planning an oral or facial endosseous implantation in a patient, comprising:

providing a processor;

communicating bone data to the processor, the bone data representative of at least a portion of the bone of the skull of the patient;

communicating surface data to the processor, the surface data representative of at least a portion of a surface, of the patient, that is apart from, and near, the bone;

with the processor, processing the bone data and the surface data into an output comprising three-dimensional (3-D) virtual representation data indicative of at least one of the group consisting of an oral structure and a facial structure of the patient, the 3-D virtual representation data being different from the bone data alone and different from the surface data alone;

using a computer-controlled fabricator to produce, based on the 3-D virtual representation data, a physical model of the at least one of the group consisting of the oral structure and the facial structure, the model indicating a planned location of an endosseous implant;

creating a non-metal custom shaped abutment from the physical model; and

drilling a pattern of the non-metal custom shaped abutment onto a metal, permanent blank giving the blank the same physical characteristics as the non-metal custom shaped abutment using a replicator device.

25. The method of claim 24 , further comprising producing a surgical guide based on the physical model.