Angular abutment for dental implants

Abstract

A series of abutments for dental use and a method for selection an abutment therefrom and aligning the abutment in a patient mouth. The series includes at least three abutments. Each abutment includes a first mate of a polygonal rotation preventive adapter having an axis of rotation perpendicularly to a lateral cross section, and a support member extending from a proximal end of the first mate and having rotational symmetry to the axis of rotation. A projection of the support member on a plane of the lateral cross section in at least one abutment, is asymmetric with respect to angle bisectors and medians of the polygonal shape. An angle between a straight line extending from the axis of rotation to a reference point on a projection circumference of the support member forms a unique offset angle with a side of the polygonal shape per each dental abutment in the series.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A series of abutments for dental use, comprising a plurality of abutments, the series comprises at least three abutments, each abutment comprising:
 (i) a first mate of a polygonal rotation preventive adapter having in a lateral cross section thereof a contour being a polygonal or virtually inscribed in a polygonal shape, and having an axis of rotation perpendicularly to said lateral cross section, said first mate being configured to engage with a second mate of the polygonal rotation preventive adapter formed in an intended dental implant, wherein each interior angle of said polygonal shape is geometrically associated with an angle bisector, wherein each side of said polygonal shape is geometrically associated with a median; and   (ii) a prosthesis support member extending from a proximal end of said first mate and having rotational symmetry order 3 or less with respect to said axis of rotation; wherein
 at least in one of the abutments, a projection of the prosthesis support member on a plane of said lateral cross section is asymmetric with respect to the angle bisectors as well as with respect to the medians, of the polygonal shape, and wherein an angle between a straight line extending from the axis of rotation to a predetermined geometrical reference point on a circumference of the projection of the prosthesis support member forms a predetermined offset angle with a side of the polygonal shape, wherein the offset angle is unique per each dental abutment in the series. 
   
     
     
         2 . A series of dental abutments according to  claim 1 , wherein the prosthesis support member is an inclined abutment member, wherein a first projection of a longitudinal axis of the inclined abutment member on the plane of said lateral cross section, forms a predetermined offset angle with a second projection being a projection of a straight line tangent to a selected side of the first half of the polygonal rotation preventive adapter on said plane; wherein the offset angle is unique per each dental abutment in the series, and wherein the first projection of at least one of the abutments in the series is unique in that it is unparallel to angle bisectors and unparallel to medians of the polygonal shape. 
     
     
         3 . A series of dental abutments according to  claim 2 , wherein the number of sides of the polygon contour, is between three and eight. 
     
     
         4 . A series of dental abutments according to  claim 2 , wherein the polygon is a hexagon. 
     
     
         5 . A series of dental abutments according to  claim 2 , wherein the offset angle is the sum of a predetermined first angle and a division by a predetermined whole number between three and ten, of a central angle between neighboring angle bisectors of the polygon. 
     
     
         6 . A series of dental abutments according to  claim 5 , wherein the number of angled abutments in the series is smaller by one from the predetermined whole number. 
     
     
         7 . A series of dental abutments according to anyone of  claims 2 - 5 , wherein the angled abutments in the series structurally differ one from another only in the size of the offset angle. 
     
     
         8 . A method of aligning a prosthesis within a patient's mouth, the method comprising:
 (i) implanting a dental implant in a selected position within the patient mouth;   (ii) providing a series of abutments having characteristics according to  claim 1 ;   (iii) selecting from the series a first abutment having a first offset angle and securing it temporarily on top of the dental implant;   (iv) temporarily positioning the prosthesis on the selected abutment and examining if the dental prosthesis is in satisfying alignment with neighboring objects within the patient's mouth;   (v) in case the alignment does not satisfy, skipping to step (vi), or resecuring the first abutment temporarily in another orientation as allowed by the polygonal rotation preventive adapter and repeating examining whether the dental prosthesis became satisfactorily aligned;   (vi) in case the alignment still does not satisfy, repeating steps (iii) to (v) with a second abutment from the series, in substitution of the first, wherein the offset angle of the second abutment is greater or smaller by a first predetermined amount of degrees than the offset angle of the first;   (vii) in case the alignment still does not satisfy, repeating steps (iii) to (v) with a third abutment from the series, in substitution of the first, wherein the offset angle of the third abutment is greater or smaller by a second predetermined amount of degrees than the offset angle of the first;   
     
     
         9 . A method for automated selection of an abutment for a prosthesis to be secured to that abutment within a patient's mouth, the method comprising:
 (i) providing a three-dimensional image of at least a region of a patient's mouth in which the prosthesis is intended to be situated, wherein said image includes an image of a proximal portion of a dental implant to which the abutment to be selected is to be permanently connected;   (ii) activating an image processing algorithm for recognizing at least the spatial orientation of the dental implant with respect to dental constituents neighboring to a space to be occupied by the prosthesis;   (iii) based on said recognizing and on parameters of said dental constituents, calculating a set of values with respect to a predetermined set of abutment parameters which an abutment having abutment parameters with such set of values may suit for intermediating between the dental implant and the prosthesis, and memorizing the results of said calculating as a desired set of values;   (iv) searching for abutments having individual set of values within a predetermined tolerance from the desired set of values, within a database of a multiple series of abutments according to  claim 1 , which the database includes per each abutment an individual set of values per the predetermined set of parameters, and memorizing results of said searching as a list of one or more series of abutments ranked by proximity of their individual set of values to said desired set of values; or   (v) providing from said database a list of series of abutments ranked according to proximity of individual set of values of abutments in each series to said desired set of values.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , further comprising submitting an order to a relevant supplier of dental abutments, for one or more series of abutments from the list, based on a computerized decision taken under considerations of rank of a series of abutments in the list, price, and estimated delivery date.