Adaptive Dental Implant Abutment via 3D Modeling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional dental abutments have standardized sizes and shapes, leading to imperfect fits with the patient's gum, resulting in either being too tight or too loose, which can affect the stability and comfort of dental implants.
Innovation Solution
A method involving 3D imaging and modeling to create an adaptive element that is customized to fit the patient's specific tooth structure, involving steps like obtaining 3D images, creating a virtual model, defining a cutting line, extracting a sub-model, forming a tubular model, and producing the adaptive element using 3D forming equipment, ensuring a precise fit with the gum.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional standardized abutments are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but fit precision with the patient's gum deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating a 3D virtual model of the patient's tooth and gum structure before abutment production. This allows the adaptive element to be custom-designed to precisely match the patient's anatomy in advance, ensuring optimal fit precision while avoiding the need for complex post-installation adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by varying the geometric parameters of the adaptive element based on the patient's specific tooth and gum measurements from the 3D model. This allows customization of the abutment's shape, size, and surface characteristics to achieve precise fit while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through controlled parameter variation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If standardized abutments are used, then production efficiency is maintained, but adaptability to individual patient anatomy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by customizing only the specific regions of the abutment that contact the patient's gum and tooth structure, while maintaining standardized components for other functions. This allows adaptability to individual anatomy where needed while preserving production efficiency through partial standardization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a digital 3D replica of the patient's tooth and gum structure, then using this copy to generate the adaptive element design. This digital copying approach enables rapid customization without requiring manual fabrication, thus maintaining production efficiency while achieving high adaptability.
3Manufacturing precision
If custom-adaptive abutments are produced using 3D modeling, then fit precision is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical measurement and fitting methods with a digital 3D modeling and scanning system. This substitution simplifies the manufacturing process by using digital data to directly guide fabrication, reducing the complexity of manual measurements and iterative adjustments while achieving superior fit precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional standardized abutment designs to three-dimensional custom-fit adaptive elements. This dimensional change allows the abutment to conform to the complex three-dimensional geometry of the patient's tooth and gum structure, achieving precise fit while the digital modeling process manages the manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for producing an adaptive element for dental implantation includes: obtaining images of a tooth and creating a 3D model based thereon; obtaining a boundary curve on the 3D model between crown and root parts thereof; defining a cutting line on the root part perpendicular to an axis of the 3D model and spaced apart from the boundary curve; extracting a sub-model from the 3D model with reference to the boundary curve and the cutting line; forming a tubular model from the sub-model by removing all that corresponds to the crown part and hollowing out the sub-model such that the tubular model has a predetermined thickness in radial directions transverse to the axis; and producing the adaptive element according to the tubular model.