Methods for patient-specific shoulder arthroplasty

A method of guiding implantation of a glenoid implant at a desired implantation position in a patent's scapula comprising:

• providing software run with a processor to create a virtual three-dimensional model of a scapula created from one or more anatomical images of the patient's scapula, the software providing for:
• identifying a center point of a glenoid fossa;
• mapping a natural glenoid surface;
• visually displaying a line representing a natural inclination of the glenoid fossa on the virtual three-dimensional model;
• determining an anatomic version of the glenoid fossa;
• adjusting a desired anatomic version and inclination so as to customize a position of the glenoid implant;
• and
• designing an alignment pin guide, wherein the alignment pin guide is designed to guide insertion of an alignment pin into the patient's scapula to achieve the desired implantation position for the glenoid implant.