This invention concerns a manufacturing method of a dental prosthesis, with specific reference to single-tooth prostheses.
A dental implant consists of a screw made of a biocompatible material, typically titanium, coated, if need be, with additional substances aimed at enhancing adhesion, osseointegration and resistence to bacterial attacks. The implant consists of an upper portion designed to emerge from the gingival arch that includes an internal thread to fix a connection device to which the dental crown will be secured.
The foregoing procedure is carried out in a dental laboratory, equipped with the necessary equipments and endowed with the required skills.
Once this procedure has been completed, the realized prosthesis or the stump are glued to the connection device L and the whole work will be finally assembled with the dental implant, already positioned in the patient's oral cavity.
The procedure described above, besides being highly demanding in terms of high technical skills, is long and laborious and the patient is obliged to undergo several dental sessions, with significant time intervals between the moment when the dentist obtains the impression and the moment when the dental technician realizes the prosthesis.
Recently, new techniques have been spreading: the latter in turn are based on CAD/CAM system prosthesis design as well as on milling machine-assisted manufacturing, wherein the said milling machines are installed either in a dental laboratory or in a dental surgery. However, the realization of the stump M to be assembled with the connection device L still has to be carried out following the traditional system described above.
It would thus be desirable to enhance the realization procedure of a dental prosthesis in such a way that its manufacturing, or at least part thereof, is carried out directly in the dental surgery, with no need of a dental technician's specific skills. In this way, indeed, the manufacturing time could be significantly reduced, thus decreasing the number of dental sessions the patient has to undergo.
The problem addressed by the present invention is that of providing a procedure to meet the goal described above.
The said problem is solved through a manufacturing method of a dental prosthesis or a part thereof, as highlighted in the attached claims, whose definitions constitute integral part of this description.
An object of the invention is thus a manufacturing method of a dental prosthesis, or a part thereof, easy and that does not require very high technical skills.
A further object of the invention is a coupling member between a milling machine and the connection device of a dental implant.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description of some realization examples carried out here below for illustrative, yet non limitative purposes, with specific reference to the annexed figures.
The invention concerns a manufacturing method of a dental prosthesis or a part thereof, that includes a milling step of a small block 1 made of a material suitable for dental uses, wherein the said block 1 is secured to a connection element for a dental implant.
According to a preferred embodiment, the method of the invention includes the following steps:
The milling machine 7 is of a conventional type.
Milling machines of this kind are sold by firms like, for instance, Sirona or KaWo. The milling machine 7 includes a supporting element 6, on which the part to be milled is mounted, and a milling spindle 8, on which a suitable end mill cutter 9 is put. Milling machines of this type can work automatically, based on a CAD/CAM-elaborated working project.
The block 1 can be realized in any material suitable for manufacturing dental prosthesis. The said material is typically a ceramic material, like for instance disilicate or feldspathic ceramic, zirconium oxide, glass-ceramic, composite etc.
In certain embodiments, a nanocomposite ceramic material is used. The said material is a hybrid ceramic with dual network structure, microfine structure (86% by weight) and reinforced through a poly-acrylate network; it combines the advantages of ceramic together with those of composite resins.
These kinds of materials are directly produced in their definitive state and consequently do not need additional baking processes; they can thus be used to realize dental prostheses with definitive morphology and are millable in the dental surgery, starting from the block 1.
Vice versa, when using the other ceramic materials listed above, additional steps of sintering or superficial coloring with heating processes are required, increasing the number of scheduled dental sessions. The neck K (
Bin certain embodiments, the block 1 has a cylindrical shape and presents a longitudinal through hole 2.
The connection element L, displayed in
The second connection portion 4 has a slightly conical shape and comprises a longitudinal relief 10, serving as a reference positioning mark either for the stump or for the crown to be glued.
A flange 11 is located between the first 3 and the second connection parts, so that its lower portion matches with the dental implant, whereas its upper section acts as end limit for the block 1.
The fixing of the second connection portion 4 of the connection element L into the hole 2 of the block 1 is carried out through gluing. Typically used glues are, for instance, self and light-cured ionomer cements.
With reference to
The first matching portion 12 includes a seat 14 to contain the first connection portion 3 of the connection element L. The foregoing seat thus has a shape that is substantially equivalent to the seat of the dental implant the connection element L is destined to. For this reason, the shapes both of the seat 14 and of the second coupling portion 13 shown in the figure are only indicative and vary depending on the type of connection element L(varying, in turn, based on the type of dental implant) and of milling machine 7 that are used, respectively.
A cavity 16 is located on the edge of the first matching portion 12. The cavity 16 is used to position the assembly block 1—connection element L, matched with the coupling member 5, with the proper rotation on the supporting element 6 of the milling machine 7, thus acting as a reference mark.
The coupling member 5 can be realized as a single piece, wherein the shape of the second coupling portion 13 depends on the milling machine type, whereas the shape of the seat 14 depends on the brand as well as on the type of dental implant that has been used. The block 1 will be secured to the coupling member 5 by a through screw tightened, in turn, with a nut that will block the assembly and will fasten it from the back part of the coupling portion 13. With this respect, a kit including a series of coupling members 5, depending on the brands both of the implant and of the milling machine, and a set of blocks 1, varying based on the implant's brand and measure and with different colors, could be provided.
The first matching portion 12 includes a cavity 16 along its edge. The cavity 16 is used to position the assembly block 1—connection element L matched and screwed with the coupling member 5 with the proper rotation into the milling machine plate, as the cavity gets stuck on a pivot located on the milling machine plate.
The method this invention refers to thus allows to obtain a stump, a crown or a complete dental prosthesis through milling, directly in the dental surgery equipped with the milling machine. The CAD-designed abutment will have a well-known, precise shape; following the very same project crown manufacturing will also be possible, in such a way that the latter will match the abutment precisely and all this can be achieved in only one dental session. In this way, the manufacturing and the installation of a dental prosthesis within a patient's mouth are heavily simplified and the patient's discomfort is reduced correspondingly, due to the lower number of dental sessions he has to undergo.
Clearly enough, only a few particular embodiments of the present invention have been described so far: a skilled person will be able to make all the necessary changes to adapt it to particular applications, with no prejudice of the scope of protection of this invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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MI2013A1561 | Sep 2013 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2014/064761 | 9/23/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2015/044862 | 4/2/2015 | WO | A |
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