Designing a dental positioning jig

1. A method for creating a virtual positioning jig for manufacturing a positioning jig, where said manufactured positioning jig is configured for use when positioning a manufactured dental restoration at a patient's set of teeth, said method comprising:

obtaining a digital 3D representation of the set of teeth, said digital 3D representation comprising an implant region portion relating to an implant region and a neighbor region portion relating to a neighbor region of the set of teeth;

designing a virtual model of the dental restoration at the digital 3D representation such that the designed virtual dental restoration model is arranged according to a target arrangement relative to the digital 3D representation, said virtual dental restoration model comprising an outer restoration surface;

creating an inner surface and an outer surface of the virtual positioning jig, where the inner jig surface is created based on said outer restoration surface, the target arrangement, and the neighbor region portion of the digital 3D representation; and

defining a through hole of the virtual positioning jig at the implant region portion of the digital 3D representation, where the through hole extends from the inner jig surface to the outer jig surface.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises visualizing the virtual dental restoration model together with the digital 3D representation.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises combining the virtual dental restoration model and the digital 3D representation to obtain a combined virtual model.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises identifying the position and orientation of a dental implant in a jaw bone of the patient.

5. The method according to claim 4 , where designing said virtual dental restoration model comprises defining a screw bore such that a dental restoration manufactured from the virtual dental restoration model can be attached to said dental implant using a retention screw configured for engaging said screw bore.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the target arrangement of said virtual dental restoration model relative to said digital 3D representation is determined from the identified position and orientation of the dental implant.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the arrangement of the through hole of the virtual positioning jig is determined based on the identified position and orientation of the dental implant.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein a cross-sectional diameter of the through hole of the virtual positioning jig is determined from a known diameter of the retention screw and/or from a predetermined diameter.

9. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the method comprises determining an insertion volume for the retention screw.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the insertion volume for the retention screw is determined from the identified position and orientation of the dental implant and/or from the designed virtual dental restoration model.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the through hole of the virtual positioning jig is defined by a Boolean subtraction of the insertion volume from the formed virtual body.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises generating a positioning jig 3D spline in relation to the digital 3D representation and/or in relation to the virtual dental restoration model and/or in relation to the combined virtual model.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein at least part of a boundary of the inner jig surface is defined by the positioning jig 3D spline.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the positioning jig 3D spline comprises a neighbor section which is shaped according to the neighbor region portion of the digital 3D representation.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein at least part of the neighbor section of the positioning jig 3D spline is shaped according to a line defined by an offset of a gingival margin of teeth in said neighbor region portion of the digital 3D representation.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dental restoration comprises an implant abutment.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the positioning jig 3D spline is shaped according to a finish line of the implant abutment, or according to a line defined by an offset of said finish line.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the outer jig surface is created by a shelling of the inner jig surface.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein creating the inner and the outer surface of the virtual positioning jig comprises defining a virtual bar structure in relation to the digital 3D representation and the virtual dental restoration model or in relation to the combined virtual model.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein creating the inner jig surface and the outer jig surface comprises a Boolean subtraction of the digital 3D representation and the virtual dental restoration model from the virtual bar structure or a Boolean subtraction of the combined virtual model from the virtual bar structure.

21. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a diagnostic wax-up for the set of teeth is created and where the inner jig surface is created based on said diagnostic wax-up.