Dental crown manufacturing apparatus

In a dental model for use in manufacturing a dental crown for a patient, said model including:

• a rigid base;
• a rigid pedestal on said base substantially duplicating the patient's gum;
• and a plurality of artificial teeth attached to said pedestal on the opposite side of the pedestal from said base, said artificial teeth substantially duplicating the patient's teeth along said gum and including a first artificial tooth which is to be fitted with a dental crown, said pedestal including a first gum segment between said first artificial tooth and said base which is separate from the base and from the rest of the pedestal, said first tooth and said first gum segment constituting an integral crown tooth unit in the dental model;
• and pin-and-socket locating means on said base and said first gum segment to position said first artificial tooth at the precise location of the corresponding tooth in the person's mouth, said locating means permitting the slidable removal of said crown tooth unit substantially perpendicularly away from said base;
• the improvement wherein:
• said pedestal has a neighbor gum segment next to said first gum segment which is separate from the rest of the pedestal and from the base, said neighbor gum segment carrying an artificial neighbor tooth which is next to said first artificial tooth, said neighbor tooth and said neighbor gum segment constituting an integral neighbor tooth unit in the dental model;
• and said model presents a gap between said neighbor tooth unit and the next tooth and the corresponding gum segment of the pedestal;
• and further comprising:
• positioning means acting between said base and said neighbor gum segment of said neighbor tooth unit for selectively positioning said neighbor tooth unit on said base either (1) at a normal location in which said neighbor tooth is at the precise location of the corresponding tooth in the patient's mouth or (2) at a displaced location extending into said gap and positioning said neighbor tooth farther from said first tooth, thereby making room for the addition of wet porcelain to a crown on said first tooth and facilitating the slidable removal of said crown tooth unit from the base.