Dental alignment system and method for dental implant placement

Abstract

A dental alignment guide system for dental implant placement has an anatomical guide, a tooth supported guide and a surgical guide. The system further can have an articulation piece, a prosthetic seat, an analog anatomical model and artificial teeth. The system has a plurality of implants, the implants being abutments, preferably multiunit abutments, a plurality of screws for attaching the anatomical guide to bone, pins to removably attach the various guides and the artificial teeth to the anatomical guide as assemblies during the method of practicing the invention.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A dental alignment guide system for dental implant placement comprises:
 an anatomical guide having an arch shaped structure having a first end and a second end, the arch shaped structure having a curved exterior wall and a curved interior wall extending between the ends, the interior wall formed to abut against and be secured to a portion of a labial and/or buccal side of a patient's exposed bone of the alveolar process with soft gum tissue removed or displaced by flapping, the curved exterior wall having at least one fastener openings extending through the arch shaped structure, each fastener opening configured to receive a fastener to secure the anatomical guide to the exposed bone of either the mandible or the maxilla;   a plurality of fasteners, the plurality of fasteners are threaded screws to fasten the anatomical guide to the exposed bone, each threaded screw passing through one of the plurality of fastener openings of the anatomical guide;   a surgical guide, the surgical guide with a curved structure having a connection; the curved structure having a plurality of openings extending from an outer surface toward a reduced bone surface of the alveolar process, the openings configured to receive implants or screws for seating the surgical guide, the connection extending from the curved structure to an end, each end of the connection being sized to be received and complimentarily fit into a connection aperture on the anatomical guide; and   wherein the anatomical guide and the surgical guide when connected together form an assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1 , wherein the connection of the surgical guide is dimensionally the same as the connection of the tooth guide to fit the connection aperture of the anatomical guide. 
     
     
         3 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1 , wherein the surgical guide has an exposed outer surface with a plurality of implant openings each implant opening being a guide tube, each guide tube being positioned in one of the plurality of implant openings to direct a placement of a drill and an implant into the reduced bone. 
     
     
         4 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1  further comprises:
 an analog model replicating the patient's reduced bone with implant placements, the analog model has a pair of attachment openings configured to receive an articulation piece. 
 
     
     
         5 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 4  further comprises:
 an articulation piece, the articulation piece has a pair of attachment posts for attachment into the pair of attachment openings on the analog model; and 
 wherein the articulation piece replicates the patient's teeth and bone that existed prior to a bone reduction to provide for alignment and articulation. 
 
     
     
         6 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 5  further comprises:
 a prosthetic seat with openings aligned with the implant openings, the prosthetic seat being positioned on the reduced bone with identifying markers for abutment pieces to be attached to the implants in the reduced bone between the reduced bone and the artificial teeth. 
 
     
     
         7 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1  further comprises:
 an anatomical model of the patient's teeth and exposed alveolar process with soft tissue removed to replicate the patient's teeth and mandible or maxilla prior to any teeth extraction or bone reduction; wherein the anatomical model is a three-dimensional model made by combining laser scanning of the patient's teeth with a CT image of the patient's anatomy and 3D printing. 
 
     
     
         8 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 5 , further comprises:
 a plurality of implants, the implants configured to pass through the guide tubes of the surgical guide.   
     
     
         9 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 8 , wherein the implants are driven into the reduced bone while being guided by the guide tube securely fixed to the bone at a desired angle, depth and rotation, rotation being controlled by aligning markers on the implant driver to markers on the surgical guide at a depth stop. 
     
     
         10 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 9 , further comprises:
 abutments for attachment to the implants, wherein each abutment has one or more alignment flats or slots and the prosthetic seat is marked to indicate an alignment location for the flats or slots to control rotation to a desired angle; and   wherein each abutment has internal threads and wherein each abutment has an exposed end configured to receive and temporarily hold a cylinder, each cylinder being pre-cut to a desired length.   
     
     
         11 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 10 , further comprises:
 a prosthetic artificial teeth, the artificial teeth have a connection configured to align with the connection aperture of the anatomical guide to form an assembly; and   wherein the prosthetic artificial teeth have a plurality of holes configured to align with the cylinders and to receive the cylinders attached to the abutments into the holes at the desired length so the cylinder end is at or below the surface of the teeth when the artificial teeth are attached to the anatomical guide.   
     
     
         12 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 11 , further comprises:
 a plurality of straws, a straw being inserted into an open end of the cylinder to occlude the opening to the screw access; wherein a curing material is applied to the holes of the artificial teeth to bond and secure the cylinders to the artificial teeth.   
     
     
         13 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 12 , wherein the artificial teeth are removed from the anatomical guide with the cylinders fixed to the artificial teeth. 
     
     
         14 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 13 , wherein the connection is removed and the artificial teeth polished and prepared for placement into the patient. 
     
     
         15 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 14 , wherein the anatomical guide is unfastened from the bone and the soft tissue flap sutured prior to attaching the artificial teeth. 
     
     
         16 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 15 , further comprises:
 a plurality of screws configured to pass through the cylinders and thread into the abutments thereby securing the artificial teeth to the reduced bone.   
     
     
         17 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1 , wherein the anatomical guide has a flat outer surface extending between the curved interior wall and the curved exterior wall to provide a bone cutting guide surface to create a reduced bone with teeth removed to receive implants, and wherein the anatomical guide has a nasal vertical mount portion integrally formed or otherwise affixed to an opposing outer surface relative to the flat outer surface. 
     
     
         18 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 17 , wherein the nasal vertical mount portion extending from the anatomical guide to buttress against cheek bones, the portion having nasal clips configured to assist in vertically positioning the anatomical guide interior surface against the exposed bone of the maxilla, wherein each nasal clip has an aperture, wherein the surgical guide is rigidly supported by the connections on the support bars and cantilevered over the anatomical guide forming a space between the surgical guide and the anatomical guide creating a gap, preventing the surgical guide from sitting on the top cutting surface of the anatomical guide while cantilevering over the bone. 
     
     
         19 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1  further comprises:
 a tooth supported guide with a “U” shaped curved structure configured to vertically fit onto a patient's existing teeth and a connection extending from the “U” shaped curved structure to an end, the connection being sized to be received and complimentarily fit into a connection aperture on the anatomical guide; 
 wherein the anatomical guide and the tooth supported guide when connected together form an assembly; 
 wherein the assembly of anatomical guide and the tooth supported guide are tooth supported vertically to align the interior wall of the anatomical guide to abut against the exposed bone prior to securing the anatomical guide with fasteners to the exposed bone; and 
 wherein the tooth supported guide is removably attached to the anatomical guide as the assembly, and the anatomical guide after being fastened to the exposed bone can have the tooth supported guide removed from the assembly. 
 
     
     
         20 . The dental alignment guide system of  claim 1  wherein the anatomical guide has a flat outer surface extending between the curved interior wall and the curved exterior wall to provide a bone cutting guide surface to create a reduced bone with teeth removed to receive implants, wherein the anatomical guide has a cross-sectional thickness along the arch shaped structure to prevent buckling between the opposing interior wall and exterior wall.