Dental bar
AssigneeMJP Elite Studios Limited
InventorsMark Jerome Price, Steven William Campbell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A dental bar is disclosed for accurately determining the separation and relative orientation of two coping cylinders projecting from dental implants in a patients mouth to receive a prosthesis. The dental bar comprises two sockets, for fitting over and securing to the two coping cylinders, connected to one another by a limb formed of telescopically collapsible sections. The telescoped ections of the limb are of differing cross-sectional shape so as to define between them a volume into which a bonding material may be injected through a port, in order to lock all the limb sections permanently relative to one another.
Claims15
A dental bar for accurately determining the separation and relative orientation of two coping cylinders projecting from dental implants in a patient's mouth to receive a prosthesis, the dental bar comprising:
- a pair of sockets, each configured for fitting over and securing to one of the two coping cylinders;
- a limb comprising at least two telescopically collapsible one-piece sections forming an adjacent pair of telescoped sections, each of a first and a last of the one-piece sections being permanently secured in a fixed predetermined position to a respective socket of the pair of sockets;
- within each adjacent pair of telescoped sections, one section being a shaft and the other section being a tubular housing for slidably receiving the shaft, the exterior of the shaft and the interior of the housing section having differing cross-sectional shapes, at least one of the cross-sectional shapes being polygonal;
- the shaft and the housing sections of each adjacent pair being operationally coupled and radially defining therebetween an empty volume within the tubular housing;
- and,
- a port in fluid coupling with the empty volume, the port permitting injection of a bonding material into the empty volume for locking the telescoping shaft and housing relative to one another upon curing of the bonding material.
A method of manufacturing an accurate model of a mouth fitted with at least two tooth implants, the method comprising:
- securing at least two coping cylinders to the at least two implants;
- providing at least one dental bar having at least a pair of sockets, each configured for fitting over and securing to one of the at least two coping cylinders, a limb comprising at least two telescopically collapsible one-piece sections forming an adjacent pair of telescoped sections, each of a first and a last of the one-piece sections being permanently secured in a fixed predetermined position to a respective socket of at least the pair of sockets;
- within each adjacent pair of telescoped sections, one section being a shaft and the other section being a tubular housing for slidably receiving the shaft, the exterior of the shaft and the interior of the housing section having differing cross-sectional shapes, at least one of the cross-sectional shapes being polygonal;
- the shaft and the housing sections of each adjacent pair being operationally coupled and radially defining therebetween an empty volume within the tubular housing;
- and, a port in fluid coupling with the empty volume, the port permitting injection of a bonding material into the empty volume for locking the telescoping shaft and housing relative to one another upon curing of the bonding material;
- fitting at least the pair of sockets over the at least two coping cylinders;
- bonding at least the pair of sockets to the at least two coping cylinders;
- locking the shaft and the housing permanently to each other by injecting the bonding material into the port;
- and,
- releasing the at least two coping cylinders from the at least two implants to provide an impression accurately indicative of the relative spacing and orientation of the at least two implants.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.