Method of Creating a Dental Implant Drill-Guide

A method of creating a dental implant drill-guide for guiding the drilling of dental-implant cavities in an edentulous area of a maxillary or mandibular arch, the method comprising the steps of:

• a] inserting a plurality of apical parts of two-part orthodontic screws into an edentulous area of a maxillary or mandibular arch of a patient, such that the two-part orthodontic screws engage with the osseous tissue of the edentulous area of the maxillary or mandibular arch and extend through the gingival mucosa;
• b] obtaining impression data of the edentulous area of the maxillary or mandibular arch inclusive of the plurality of two-part orthodontic screws to form a maxillary or mandibular image;
• c] refining the impression data based on characteristic shape data corresponding to the two-part orthodontic screws;
• d] determining dental implant position data for the insertion of one or more dental implants into the edentulous area of the maxillary or mandibular arch relative to the positions of the plurality of two-part orthodontic screws from the refined impression data;
• and
• e] creating a dental implant drill-guide from the determined dental implant position data, the dental implant drill-guide having a plurality of orthodontic screw-seats which correspond to the said plurality of two-part orthodontic screws.

A method of implanting one or more dental implants into a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

• a] inserting a plurality of apical parts of two-part orthodontic screws into an edentulous maxillary or mandibular arch of a patient, such that the two-part orthodontic screws engage with the osseous tissue of the edentulous maxillary or mandibular arch;
• b] obtaining three-dimensional oral information data of the edentulous maxillary or mandibular arch;
• c] imaging the maxilla or mandible of the patient inclusive of the plurality of two-part orthodontic screws to form a maxillary or mandibular image;
• d] determining from the maxillary or mandibular image and the three-dimensional oral information data one or more dental implant positions for the insertion of dental implants into the edentulous maxillary or mandibular arch relative to the positions of the plurality of two-part orthodontic screws;
• e] creating a dental implant drill-guide based on the one or more dental implant positions and the positions of the plurality of two-part orthodontic screws;
• f] positioning the dental drill-guide on the apical parts of the two-part orthodontic screws;
• g] fixing the dental implant drill-guide in position by engaging the coronal parts of the two-part orthodontic screws with the apical parts of the two-part orthodontic screws so as to clamp the dental implant drill-guide;
• h] drilling one or more dental-implant cavities in the edentulous maxillary or mandibular arch using the dental implant drill-guide;
• and
• i] inserting a dental implant into each dental-implant cavity.