Virtual Abutment Design for Dental Restoration Gap Elimination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for designing dental restorations with both a crown and an abutment often result in a gap between the virtual crown and abutment, leading to a distorted aesthetic appearance and potential discomfort for the patient, as the virtual crown is reshaped to contact the virtual abutment, compromising its original shape and attractiveness.
Innovation Solution
A method where a virtual sub-gingival surface is created to contact the virtual anatomy surface, maintaining the target shape and aesthetics of the anatomy portion, ensuring the manufactured dental restoration's appearance is determined by the virtual anatomy surface, while the sub-gingival surface is shaped to align with the anatomy surface, using computer algorithms to achieve a smooth transition and prevent gaps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the virtual crown is reshaped to contact the virtual abutment, then the gap between crown and abutment is closed, but the aesthetic appearance of the crown is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of reshaping the crown to contact the abutment, the invention inverts the approach by reshaping the abutment to contact the crown. The abutment is modified in the sub-gingival region while the crown's aesthetic anatomy portion remains unchanged, thereby closing the gap without compromising crown aesthetics
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies local quality by modifying only the sub-gingival portion of the abutment while preserving the supra-gingival aesthetic portion. The reshaping is localized to the region below the gum line where it is not visible, thus maintaining overall aesthetic appearance while achieving proper contact
2Manufacturing precision
If the virtual crown is deformed to close the gap, then contact with abutment is achieved, but patient comfort is potentially compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The invention inverts the deformation target from the crown to the abutment. By deforming the abutment instead of the crown, the anatomical correctness and patient comfort of the crown are preserved while still achieving the necessary contact relationship
3Shape
If the virtual abutment is reshaped to contact the virtual crown, then the gap is closed without deforming the crown, but additional manufacturing steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the deformation requirement from the crown and applies it separately to the abutment. This separation allows the crown to be designed independently for aesthetics while the abutment is independently modified to achieve contact, simplifying the overall design process despite the additional modification step
Data Source
AI summary
A method for designing a virtual abutment for manufacturing an abutment part of a dental restoration for a patient, the dental restoration further including a crown configured for being seated at the abutment, wherein the method includes loading a virtual anatomy surface into an electronic data processing device, the virtual anatomy surface expressing a target shape of the crown portion of the dental restoration; loading an obtained virtual abutment including a virtual abutment finish line into the electronic data processing device; and modifying the obtained virtual abutment by executing one or more computer implemented algorithms using the electronic data processing device, where the algorithms are configured to adapt the shape of the obtained virtual abutment such that the virtual abutment finish line of the modified virtual abutment is aligned with the virtual anatomy surface.