This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 105124330, filed Aug. 1, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a healing abutment assembly, a healing abutment and a selecting method thereof. More particularly, the healing abutment assembly, the healing abutment and the selecting method thereof have special positioning structures and are controlled by an auxiliary tool.
A dental implant surgery provides various methods and apparatus for compensating for the loss of natural teeth. Dental implants are devices that are designed to be screwed into the human jawbone and serve as a mounting for a prosthetic in the shape and color of the tooth it is replacing. The primary advantage of implants over bridgework and partial dentures is that the installation is of a permanent nature and does not require the care, maintenance, comfort problems or adjustment associated with bridgework and dentures.
One conventional method is a single-stage dental restoration. The natural tooth can be replaced with a prosthetic tooth that is mounted on a unibody implant or a separate abutment secured to an implant. In the instance utilizing a separate implant and abutment, the implant is first installed in the patient's jawbone, typically through threaded engagement. A separate abutment is then secured to the coronal end of the implant and, after sufficient osseointegration of the implant with the patient's jawbone, the prosthetic tooth is secured to the abutment. In the single-stage dental restoration, the implant is installed into the patient's jaw bone and allowed sufficient time to osseointegrate. After a period of time, the prosthetic tooth is installed on the coronal end of the unibody implant. However, this conventional single-stage dental restoration easily causes wound infection around the abutment and the gums damage, thus increasing the patient's pain and discomfort.
Another conventional method is a two-stage dental restoration having a first stage and a second stage. In the first stage, a dental implant in inserted in the jawbone of a dental patient in the location of the natural root of the lost tooth. After the first stage surgery, the implant is left in position in the jawbone, covered by the patient's fleshy gum tissue, for several months until it becomes osseointegrated within the patient's jawbone. Thereafter, in the second stage, the gum tissue is opened to expose an end of the implant, and a healing abutment is attached to the implant until the surrounding gum tissue heals around the abutment. After the gum tissue has healed, the healing abutment is typically removed and the implant is available to support an artificial tooth. In general, the healing abutment is made of titanium and has a conical shape. However, the cost of this conventional healing abutment is too thigh to implement, and the structure of the conventional healing abutment formed in a conical shape may cause great gums damage during the removing procedure because of the rotation between the conventional healing abutment and the gums, thereby increasing the wound area. Therefore, a healing abutment assembly, a healing abutment and a selecting method thereof having the features of low cost, convenient operation and fitting teeth shapes are commercially desirable.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a healing abutment for disposing on an implant by an auxiliary tool includes a body and a positioning structure. The body includes an accommodating space, a healing surrounding surface, a top surface and a bottom surface. The bottom surface is connected to the implant. The healing surrounding surface is connected between the top surface and the bottom surface. The accommodating space is communicated with the top surface and the bottom surface, and the healing surrounding surface is formed in a non-conical shape. The positioning structure is disposed on the top surface and removably connected to the auxiliary tool.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a healing abutment assembly for disposing on an implant by an auxiliary tool includes a healing abutment and a connecting member. The healing abutment includes a body and a positioning structure. The body includes an accommodating space, a healing surrounding surface, a top surface and a bottom surface. The bottom surface is connected to the implant. The healing surrounding surface is connected between the top surface and the bottom surface. The accommodating space is communicated with the top surface and the bottom surface. An outline of the top surface is formed in a non-circular shape, and the healing surrounding surface is formed in a non-conical shape. The positioning structure is disposed on the top surface and removably connected to the auxiliary tool. The connecting member is removably connected to the body and the implant. The connecting member is passed through the body and disposed in the implant so as to fixedly connect the body to the implant.
According to further another aspect of the present disclosure, a selecting method of a healing abutment provides a position judging step and a healing abutment selecting step. The position judging step is for judging a teeth position corresponding to an implant. The healing abutment selecting step is for selecting the healing abutment including a healing surrounding surface and a positioning structure. The healing surrounding surface is formed in a non-conical shape, and the healing abutment is corresponding to the teeth position.
The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
The healing abutment 200 includes a body 300 and a positioning structure 400. The body 300 includes an accommodating space 310, a healing surrounding surface 320, a top surface 330 and a bottom surface 340. The accommodating space 310 is communicated with the top surface 330 and the bottom surface 340. An extending direction of the accommodating space 310 is parallel to a Z-axis direction. The accommodating space 310 has a first space 312 and a second space 314. The first space 312 is communicated with the second space 314. The first space 312 has a cylindrical shape and a first inner diameter R1. The second space 314 has the cylindrical shape and a second inner diameter R2, and the first inner diameter R1 is greater than the second inner diameter R2. In addition, the healing surrounding surface 320 is formed in a non-conical shape. The healing surrounding surface 320 is connected between the top surface 330 and the bottom surface 340. There is an angle θ between an extending direction of the healing surrounding surface 320 and the Z-axis direction, so that the healing surrounding surface 320 is formed in an inverted cone-shaped configuration and has a wide top and a narrow bottom. The top surface 330 and the bottom surface 340 are parallel to an X-Y plane. An outline area of the top surface 330 is greater than an outline area of the bottom surface 340. The outline of the top surface 330 is formed in a non-circular shape. The top surface 330 includes a first surface region 332 and a second surface region 334. The first surface region 332 is symmetric with the second surface region 334 along an X-axis direction. The bottom surface 340 is connected to the implant 104.
The positioning structure 400 is disposed on the top surface 330 and removably connected to the auxiliary tool 102. In detail, the positioning structure 400 is disposed on the body 300 and is connected to the top surface 330. The shape of the positioning structure 400 is corresponding to the shape of the auxiliary tool 102, thus positioning and rotating the body 300 via the auxiliary tool 102. The positioning structure 400 includes a third surface region 410 and two movable abutting surfaces 420a, 420b. The third surface region 410 is located between the first surface region 332 and the second surface region 334. There is a first height difference H between the third surface region 410 and the first surface region 332. There is a second height difference between the third surface region 410 and the second surface region 334, and the first height difference H is equal to the second height difference. The third surface region 410 is higher than the first surface region 332 and the second surface region 334. The two movable abutting surfaces 420a, 420b are opposite to each other and parallel to the Z-axis direction. The movable abutting surface 420a is connected between the first surface region 332 and the third surface region 410. The movable abutting surface 420b is connected between the second surface region 334 and the third surface region 410. The body 300 and the positioning structure 400 are both made of plastic material and integrally connected with each other. The healing abutment 200 has a flesh color or a white color, and the color of the healing abutment 200 is similar with the surrounding gums or adjacent teeth thereof, thereby pleasing to the eye of an observer and allowing a physician to quickly identify the status of other teeth. In
The connecting member 500 is removably connected to the body 300 and the implant 104. The connecting member 500 is passed through the body 300 and disposed in the implant 104 so as to fixedly connect the body 300 to the implant 104. In detail, the connecting member 500 includes a threaded portion 510, an abutting portion 520 and a connecting portion 530. The implant 104 has a threaded hole 1042 and an end surface 1044. The threaded portion 510 of the connecting member 500 is disposed through the accommodating space 310 of the healing abutment 200 and is screwed into the threaded hole 1042 of the implant 104 so as to tightly connect the end surface 1044 to the bottom surface 340 of the body 300. In addition, the abutting portion 520 has a first diameter D1 and is corresponding to the first space 312. The first diameter D1 is smaller than the first inner diameter R1. The connecting portion 530 is connected between the threaded portion 510 and the abutting portion 520. The connecting portion 530 has a second diameter D2 and is corresponding to the second space 314. The second inner diameter R2 is greater than or equal to the second diameter D2 and smaller than the first diameter D1. Therefore, the threaded portion 510 of the connecting member 500 can be smoothly passed through the first space 312 and the second space 314 sequentially and screwed into the threaded hole 1042 of the implant 104. The abutting portion 520 can be rotated by a rotary tool (not shown), thereby moving the abutting portion 520 downwardly via the threaded portion 510, i.e. the abutting portion 520 moved in a negative Z-axis direction. When the threaded portion 510 is screwed into the threaded hole 1042, a bottom edge of the abutting portion 520 is tightly connected to a junction between the first space 312 and the second space 314, thus tightly connecting the end surface 1044 of the implant 104 to the bottom surface 340 of the body 300. The rotary tool (not shown) is corresponding to a hexagonal hole of the abutting portion 520. Furthermore, when the healing abutment 200 is removed, the physician may firstly use the auxiliary tool 102 to position the positioning structure 400 of the healing abutment 200, and then use the rotary tool to remove the connecting member 500. Finally, the physician moves the healing abutment 200 upwardly, i.e. the healing abutment 200 moved in a positive Z-axis direction, thereby separating the healing surrounding surface 320 from the gums. Accordingly, the structure of the present disclosure can effectively prevent the healing surrounding surface 320 from rotating relative to the gums under condition of the healing abutment 200 having the positioning structure 400 and the healing surrounding surface 320 formed in the non-conical shape, thus greatly reducing the gums damage during the removing procedure of the healing abutment 200. On the contrary, the structure of the conventional healing abutment formed in a conical shape may cause great gums damage during the removing procedure because of the rotation between the conventional healing abutment and the gums, thereby increasing the wound area. Thus, the structure of the healing abutment 200 of the present disclosure can be a great help for patients.
The healing abutment 200 of the present disclosure can be made of medical grade plastics, medical grade titanium, titanium alloy, glass-ceramic materials, feldspar, zirconia, noble metal or non-noble metal. In detail, the medical grade plastic is polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polyetheretherketone (PEEK). The noble metal is a high gold alloy (which contains 70% of gold, palladium and platinum), a low gold alloy (which contains 45-60% of gold, palladium and platinum), a palladium-silver alloy or a metal-ceramic alloy. The non-noble metal is a cobalt-chromium alloy, a cobalt-chromium-nickel alloy or a chromium-nickel alloy. The material of the healing abutment 200 can be determined by a manufacturer according to the requirements of the particular application.
The position judging step S11 is for judging a teeth position corresponding to an implant 104. The teeth position is corresponding to one of the central incisor P1, the lateral incisor P2, the canine P3, the first premolar P4, the second premolar P5, the first molar P6, the second molar P7 and the third molar P8. The human teeth are disposed symmetrically relative to a central plane of the mouth, thus easily inferring the correct teeth positions of the healing abutment 200.
The healing abutment selecting step S12 is for selecting the healing abutment 200 including a healing surrounding surface 320 and a positioning structure 400. The healing surrounding surface 320 is formed in a non-conical shape, and the healing abutment 200 is corresponding to the teeth position. In detail, when the teeth position is corresponding to one of the central incisor P1, the lateral incisor P2 and the canine P3 in the position judging step S11, the healing abutment 200 having the healing surrounding surface 320 formed in the triangular cone shape is selected in the healing abutment selecting step S12. When the teeth position is corresponding to one of the first premolar P4 or the second premolar P5 in the position judging step S11, the healing abutment 200 having the healing surrounding surface 320 formed in an elliptical cone shape is selected in the healing abutment selecting step S12. When the teeth position is corresponding to one of the first molar P6, the second molar P7 and the third molar P8 in the position judging step S11, the healing abutment 200 having the healing surrounding surface 320 formed in a quadrangular cone shape is selected in the healing abutment selecting step S12.
The tool selecting step S13 is for selecting an auxiliary tool 102 corresponding to the positioning structure 400 of the healing abutment 200. The auxiliary tool 102 is a wrench formed into a specific shape. When the connecting member 500 is rotated, the positioning structure 400 of the healing abutment 200 cooperated with the auxiliary tool 102 can prevent the healing abutment 200 from rotating relative to the implant 104, thus increasing the stability and convenience of installing or removing the healing abutment 200. The healing abutment 200 is manufactured and selected at the outside of the body. Accordingly, the selecting method 600 of the present disclosure can be utilized for selecting the suitable healing abutment 200 and the corresponding auxiliary tool 102 according to the teeth positions by the dental computer system, thereby meeting the requirements of a variety of teeth shapes and teeth positions in the dental implant surgery procedure.
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According to the aforementioned embodiments and examples, the advantages of the present disclosure are described as follows.
1. The installation of the specific healing abutments of the present disclosure on the different teeth positions can be successfully performed for gums healing, crowns installation and fitting teeth shapes.
2. The healing abutment assembly, the healing abutment and the selecting method thereof of the present disclosure can provide the healing abutment having a flesh color or a white color. The color of the healing abutment is similar with the surrounding gums or adjacent teeth thereof, thereby pleasing to the eye of an observer and allowing a physician to quickly identify the status of other teeth.
3. The healing abutment of the present disclosure is made of plastic material and has the healing surrounding surface formed in a non-conical shape, thereby greatly reducing the gums damage during a removing procedure of the healing abutment and being a great help for patients.
4. The structure of the present disclosure can effectively prevent the healing surrounding surface from rotating relative to the gums under condition of the healing abutment having the positioning structure and the healing surrounding surface formed in the non-conical shape, thus increasing the safety, stability and convenience of installing or removing the healing abutment.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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105124330 | Aug 2016 | TW | national |