Healing components for use in taking impressions and methods for making the same

Abstract

The present invention provides a healing abutment for attachment to a dental implant with marking locations thereon. The marking locations either lack or have markers that provide a binary code system for retrieving unique information about the healing abutment and the underlying implant.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of creating a prosthesis for mating with a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, comprising:
 creating a three-dimensional model from a scan of at least a portion of the mouth, the mouth including gingival tissue and an attachment member coupled to the dental implant, the attachment member having at least one informational marker that indicates information regarding characteristics of the dental implant;   based on the information indicated from the at least one informational marker, modifying the three-dimensional model so as to include a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the dental implant to be used in creating the prosthesis; and   designing a three-dimensional model of the prosthesis from the modified three-dimensional model.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the dental implant is an exposed end of the dental implant. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the dental implant includes a non-rotational feature of the dental implant. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting at least a portion of the designed three-dimensional model of the prosthesis to a milling machine capable of producing at least a portion of the prosthesis. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising producing the at least a portion of the prosthesis using the milling machine. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment member includes a top surface having the at least one informational marker. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the attachment member is configured to mate with only the dental implant in response to the attachment member being coupled to the dental implant such that the top surface of the attachment member is free to be scanned directly. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the prosthesis includes a custom abutment and overlying materials. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the overlying materials include porcelain. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the overlying materials form a prosthetic tooth. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the prosthesis is configured to be attached to only a single dental implant. 
     
     
         12 . A method of creating a prosthesis for attachment to a dental implant in a mouth of a patient, comprising:
 preparing the mouth for three-dimensional modeling, the mouth at least including gingival tissue, the dental implant, and an attachment member coupled to the dental implant, the attachment member having at least one informational marker that indicates information regarding characteristics of the dental implant;   creating a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the mouth including a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the attachment member;   based on the information indicated from the at least one informational marker, creating a modified three-dimensional model including a three dimensional model of at least a portion of the dental implant to be used in creating the prosthesis; and   designing the prosthesis from the modified three-dimensional model.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least a portion of the dental implant is an exposed end of the dental implant. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least a portion of the dental implant includes a non-rotational feature of the dental implant. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the creating the three-dimensional model of at least a portion of the mouth includes scanning the at least a portion of the mouth using a photographic scanning technique. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the preparing the mouth for three-dimensional modeling includes: (i) installing the dental implant within a jawbone of the patient, the dental implant having an exposed end and an end implanted in the jawbone; and (ii) placing the attachment member on the exposed end of the dental implant. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the attachment member includes a top surface having the at least one informational marker. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the attachment member is configured to mate with only the dental implant in response to the attachment member being coupled to the dental implant such that the top surface of the attachment member is free to be scanned directly. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising transmitting final design information for the prosthesis to a milling machine capable of producing at least a portion of the prosthesis. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising producing the at least a portion of the prosthesis using the milling machine.