Customized drilling jig for implantation of a hearing aid

Abstract

A customized drilling jig for implantation of a hearing aid involves a molded imprint ( 14 ) of a patient's upper teeth ( 12 ) made of a solidified elastic material connected to a jig ( 16 ) having a lateral beam ( 20 ) and navigation benchmarks ( 22 ) and with which a three-dimensional image of the patient's head can be captured for determining a minimal invasive drilling axis ( 28 ) for hearing aid implantation based on the three-dimensional image. The customized jig has a drilling guide opening in a lateral beam of the jig for guiding a drilling tool ( 26 ). The position and orientation of the drilling guide opening are selected to guide the drilling tool along the determined minimal invasive drilling axis when the jig is positioned on the patient's head by using the imprint ( 14 ).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A customized drilling jig for implantation of a hearing aid into a patient's head, comprising a dental imprint of the patient's upper teeth and a lateral beam which is fixedly connected to the dental imprint and which comprises a drilling guide opening positioned to guide a drilling tool along a minimally invasive drilling axis for drilling a cavity into the patient's head for implantation of the hearing aid when the jig is positioned on the patient's head held by the dental imprint against the patient's teeth, with the drilling axis having been determined based on a three-dimensional image of the patient's head.