Two-piece dental abutment system

A method of manufacturing a dental abutment for use on a dental implant in a patient's mouth, said dental abutment having a prosthetic portion and an insert including a plurality of resilient fingers, said method comprising:

• placing an upper segment of said insert into a passageway of said prosthetic portion;
• non-rotationally mating a first non-round section of said insert, that is adjacent to said plurality of resilient fingers, with a second non-round section in said passageway of said prosthetic portion;
• expanding said plurality of resilient fingers on said insert;
• and
• in response to said insert being placed a certain distance within said passageway, snap-fitting said insert into a final position with said prosthetic portion.

An abutment for use with a dental implant, said dental implant having an internally threaded bore and a non-round fitting located at a gingival end portion thereof, said abutment comprising:

• a prosthetic portion adapted to support a prosthesis thereon, said prosthetic portion having a subgingival end and a supragingival region for protruding beyond gingiva adjacent to said dental implant, said supragingival region being asymmetrically arranged around a central axis of said prosthetic portion such that said abutment can function as an angled abutment, said prosthetic portion having a passageway extending therethrough, said passageway including an enlarged retention groove and non-round section having “n” number of sides;
• an insert extending into said passageway and engaging said subgingival end of said prosthetic portion, said insert having a central opening and an anti-rotational feature with “m” sides for engaging said non-round fitting of said dental implant, said insert including flexible retention fingers that, upon insertion into said passageway, initially contract before reaching said enlarged retention groove and then expand outwardly into said enlarged retention groove to hold said insert onto said prosthetic portion, said insert including a corresponding non-round section with “n” number of sides for mating with said non-round section of said passageway;
• and
• wherein said insert is insertable into said prosthetic portion in one of a plurality of positions such that said asymmetrically arranged supragingival region can be at one of a plurality of angles with respect to one of said “m” sides on said anti-rotational feature.