Dental prosthetic structure and method

A method of preparing a dental prosthetic device to be secured to an implant in a patient's mouth, the method comprising the steps of:

• temporarily mounting a tooth support member on said implant;
• forming an impression of the teeth adjacent to and opposing said tooth support member in dental impression material;
• removing said impression from the patient's mouth, thereby to remove said tooth support member embedded in said impression material;
• placing a counter-die on the portion of said tooth support member exposed from said impression material;
• casting said impression, including said counter-die, in dental casting material to reproduce the implant mount and the adjacent and opposing teeth in said casting material in the same spatial relationship as in the

Apparatus comprising:

• a hollow member having a porous exterior surface for interfacing with bone tissue;
• mounting means for securing a dental prosthetic device;
• means disposed in the interior portion of said hollow member for suspending said mounting means, said suspending means being resilient to multidirectional masticatory forces applied to said mounting means;
• and
• fibrous material secured to said resilient material and disposed between said hollow member and said dental prosthetic device for interfacing with gingival tissue to permit formation of a seal with the gingival tissue, thereby to preclude invasion of bacteria into the area surrounding said