Apparatus for facilitating acquisition of a scan and an intraoral scanning procedure

Abstract

The present invention comprises an apparatus for facilitating the acquisition of a scan during an intraoral scanning procedure using an intraoral scanner, including: an elongate body having an attachment portion configured to attach the elongate body with an implant in a patient's mouth, the implant having a longitudinal axis, whereby the elongate body is adapted to extend substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the implant when mounted to the implant; the elongate body having a substantially planar upper surface and one or more side walls extending downwardly away from the upper surface; wherein the upper surface and the one or more side walls are observable in a resulting scan when the intraoral scanner scans the apparatus in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface.The invention extends to a kit including a plurality of items of the apparatus and to a method of performing an intraoral scanning procedure.

1 . An apparatus for facilitating the acquisition of a scan during an intraoral scanning procedure using an intraoral scanner, including: an elongate body having an attachment portion configured to attach the elongate body with an implant in a patient's mouth, the implant having a longitudinal axis, whereby the elongate body is adapted to extend substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the implant when mounted to the implant; the elongate body having a substantially planar upper surface and one or more side walls extending downwardly away from the upper surface; wherein the upper surface and the one or more side walls are observable in a resulting scan when the intraoral scanner scans the apparatus in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface. 
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more side walls surround all or a substantial portion of the periphery of the upper surface, all being viewable from above the upper surface. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more side walls taper inwardly towards the upper surface of the elongate body, thus providing a sloped skirt depending from the upper surface. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the side walls are inclined from the direction perpendicular to the upper surface by an angle between about 15° and about 40°. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more side walls is substantially planar. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of side walls, defining a plurality of interconnected facets, is provided, each facet observable by the intraoral scanner when scanning in a direction substantially perpendicular to the upper surface. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the elongate body includes a first end and a second end, both ends having generally pointed end shapings, each defined by two meeting facets. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes a fiducial marker mounted to or integral with the upper surface. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment portion is configured to receive a fastening element in order to fixedly attach the elongate body to the implant. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the upper surface of the elongate body includes an aperture or recess configured to receive an indicator element that is identifiable in a resulting scan. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein one or more side walls adjacent the attachment portion include at least one cut-out portion configured to enable the scanner to retrieve data to assist in defining the longitudinal axis of the implant. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the cut-out portion(s) extend towards the attachment portion, thereby enabling visualisation of a surface of the attachment portion beneath the elongate body. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the upper surface and side walls include an identifier which enables identification of the apparatus in a resulting scan. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the identifier indicates one or more of height, length, width or dimensional tolerance of the apparatus. 
     
     
         15 . A method of performing an intraoral scanning procedure, including:
 inserting one or more implants into a patient's jaw, each of the one or more implants having a longitudinal axis;   mounting the apparatus of  claim 1  to the one or more implants in the patient's mouth; and   scanning the apparatus and at least a part of the soft tissue in the patient's mouth, thereby producing a set of scan data for use in determining the relative position and orientation of the one or more implants relative to the soft tissue.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further including selecting one or more modular forms of said apparatus from a plurality of different modular forms of the apparatus, in order to best fit a space to be scanned in the patient's mouth. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further including, where a plurality of implants are inserted into the patient's jaw, mounting each apparatus to its respective implant in a way resulting in a substantial elongate overlap transition from each apparatus to each adjacent apparatus, across the space to be scanned. 
     
     
         18 . A kit including a plurality of items of the apparatus of  claim 1 , including items of different dimensions to each other, such that a plurality of items may be selected for a particular patient's mouth in accordance with the area of the patient's mouth to be scanned and/or in accordance with relative positions of one or more existing implants. 
     
     
         19 . The kit of  claim 18 , wherein the different dimensions include different lengths, widths and/or different heights. 
     
     
         20 . A method of performing an intraoral scanning procedure for determining the position and orientation of one or more implants in a patient's mouth, each implant having a longitudinal axis, the method using one or more scannable bodies and including:
 providing a scannable body on each of the one or more implants, the scannable body extending substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the respective implant, the scannable body having a substantially planar first surface facing in a direction away from the soft tissue of the patient's mouth, and one or more further surfaces extending from the first surface, wherein the one or more further surfaces are viewable from a direction perpendicular to the first surface;   scanning the one or more scannable bodies, thereby producing a set of scan data associated with the intraoral scanning procedure;   assigning information from a set of stored data to the scan data; and   determining from the scan data and the assigned information the position and orientation of the one or more implants.