Radiographic Guide and Surgical Stent/Guide for Dental Implants

Abstract

A radiographic guide that can be used as a surgical guide is provided. The radiographic guide uses a provisional dental implant instead of a denture tooth or a custom made diagnostic tooth. The provisional dental implant, which can be integrated or selectively interconnected to the radiographic guide, may have a through-hole or a tapped hole that facilitates location of a dental implant. If the planned implant location is acceptable, the radiographic guide can be used as a surgical guide, wherein the hole guides surgical tools used to modify a patient's maxilla or jaw so it can receive the implant.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A radiographic guide, comprising:
 a shaped member having a plurality of recesses adapted for receipt of patient's teeth, the shaped member having an inner profile adapted to generally correspond to the shape of at least one of the patient's teeth; and   a provisional dental implant crown positioned in one of the plurality of recesses that corresponds with a void in the patient's mouth defined by an extracted tooth, the provisional dental implant comprising a hole.   
     
     
         2 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the provisional dental implant does not correspond to the outer shape of the patient's extracted tooth. 
     
     
         3 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the provisional dental implant crown is selectively interconnected to the shaped member. 
     
     
         4 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the hole is coated with a radio-opaque material. 
     
     
         5 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the provisional dental implant crown substantially matches the shape of a second provisional implant crown that is adapted to be interconnected to a dental implant in a patient's mouth via an abutment. 
     
     
         6 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the hole does not extend through the provisional dental implant crown. 
     
     
         7 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the provisional dental implant crown is bonded to the shaped member. 
     
     
         8 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the shaped member is adapted to conform with a patient's jaw or maxilla. 
     
     
         9 . The radiographic guide of  claim 1 , wherein the shaped member is made of acrylic and includes discrete radio-opaque areas. 
     
     
         10 . The radiographic guide of  claim 9 , wherein the radio-opaque areas are gutta percha markers.