Asymmetric Scallop Shell Abutment for Soft-Tissue Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dental implant placement methods, particularly immediate implant placement, face challenges in establishing a biologic seal in the soft-tissue zone after tooth removal, leading to irreversible soft-tissue changes, bone loss, and difficulties in re-establishing the tissue architecture, which affects both bone and soft-tissue regeneration.
Innovation Solution
A hollow, asymmetrically scalloped shell abutment that decouples from the dental implant, allowing for complete freedom of orientation and engagement with the soft-tissue socket, combined with a temporary post and luting compound for secure fixation without direct connection to the implant, creating a biologic seal and promoting healing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If immediate implant placement is performed, then treatment time is reduced and productivity is improved, but soft-tissue architecture is damaged and biologic seal is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The abutment is divided into two independent parts: an implant-abutment connection component that interfaces with the implant, and a separate soft-tissue engagement component that interfaces with the gingival tissue. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while working together as a unified system, enabling immediate implant placement while preserving soft-tissue architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The abutment serves as an intermediary structure between the implant and the soft tissue. It mechanically couples the implant to the surrounding gingival tissue through its engagement with the soft-tissue socket, creating a biologic seal that protects the underlying bone and promotes healing while allowing immediate functional loading.
2Stability of the object's composition
If traditional abutment connection methods are used, then structural stability is improved, but soft-tissue engagement is compromised and biologic seal cannot be re-established
Solution Approach 1:
The abutment connects the implant to the soft tissue through segmented functional zones: a stable implant-interface portion that provides structural anchorage, and a separate soft-tissue interface portion with engagement features that recreate the biologic seal. This segmentation allows both structural stability and biologic seal reliability to be optimized independently.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the abutment have different functional qualities: the implant-abutment connection area provides rigid structural stability, while the soft-tissue engagement area provides compliant biological sealing. This local differentiation of properties allows the single abutment structure to simultaneously satisfy both structural and biological requirements.
3Strength
If rigid abutment-implant connection is used, then mechanical strength is improved, but adaptability to soft-tissue orientation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The abutment is designed with a rigid implant connection segment that maintains mechanical strength, and a separate adaptable soft-tissue engagement segment that can orient itself to match the natural anatomy of the gingival socket. This segmentation allows the rigid and adaptable portions to perform their respective functions without compromising each other.
Solution Approach 2:
The abutment incorporates dynamic adaptability in its soft-tissue engagement features, allowing it to self-adjust and orient according to the natural anatomy of the gingival socket while maintaining its rigid structural connection to the implant. This dynamic capability enables the abutment to adapt to varying soft-tissue orientations without sacrificing mechanical strength.
Data Source
AI summary
A dental implant arrangement and method has a hollow shell with outer bio-compatible surface for engaging a soft-tissue socket that is left in gingival tissue after a tooth has been extracted, to promote healing. The shell tapers outwardly from a first to a second perimeter, the second perimeter being asymmetrically scalloped with opposite distal and mesial peaks and opposite lingual and facial valleys between the peaks. A dental implant in the bone socket left after tooth extraction is rigidly connected to a temporary post, the temporary post extending in the shell. A luting compound fills the volume between shell and post and solidifies, thereby connecting shell to post and indirectly to the dental implant with no other connection between the shell and the implant so that the outer surface of the shell engages against the soft-tissue socket without gaps and without requiring alignment between the shell and implant axes.