Abstract: A set of components are set forth which efficiently deliver a dental implant to a site at which the implant is to be installed in living jawbone. The implant has a gingival end with a manipulating fitting and a threaded bore extending inwardly from the gingival end. The set of components include a carrier device having an upper end, a lower end, a through-bore extending between the lower and upper ends, and a fitting for mating with the manipulating fitting of the implant. The through-bore in the region adjacent to the upper end includes a non-circular socket for receiving an implant-insertion tool that imparts movement to the carrier device and the implant. The set of components further includes a screw for attaching said carrier device to said implant. The screw has a lower threaded portion for engaging the threaded bore of the implant and a head for stopping on a shoulder within the through-bore of the carrier device.

Abstract: A support post for use with a dental implant for supporting a prosthesis thereon is disclosed. The support post includes an implant-contacting region and a supragingival core section which extends from the trans-tissue region for supporting a prosthesis. An interface member is secured to the post at the bottom of the implant-contacting region for abutment between the implant-contacting region and an implant to which the post is to be secured. The interface member has material properties different from those from which the post is made and compatible with those of the implant. Typically the support post is made of ceramic material while the insert is made of titanium having hardness properties no greater than that of the implant with which it is used.

Abstract: A set of dental impression components that may be used for either pick-up type (open tray) or transfer type (closed tray) impression molding techniques. The components are used with an impression material to fabricate a model at a site in a jawbone where an implant has been osseointegrated. The impression components include an impression coping having an outer surface with its bottom end configured to reside below the gingiva surrounding the implant. A passage exists through the impression coping which accepts a first component for attaching the impression coping to the implant for use in a pick-up type impression application. The passage also accepts a second component for attaching the impression coping to the implant for use in a transfer type impression application.

Abstract: Dental restoration components for use to make a replacement tooth which substantially mimics the emergence profile of a natural tooth comprising two parts, one being a core adapted for fixation subgingivally in the site of the natural tooth, and the other being an emergence-profiler guide which fits on the core and shapes the overlying gingiva to the desired emergence profile. Two sets of the components may be provided, one for use as a healing abutment, and the other for use as an impression coping.

Abstract: Dental restoration components for use to make a replacement tooth which substantially mimics the emergence profile of a natural tooth comprising two parts, one being a core adapted for fixation subgingivally in the site of the natural tooth, and the other being an emergence-profiler guide which fits on the core and shapes the overlying gingiva to the desired emergence profile. Two sets of the components may be provided, one for use as a healing abutment, and the other for use as an impression coping.

Abstract: Improved tensioning or preloading of screws used to assemble dental implants is made possible by using screws which have a coating of gold, particularly screws made of palladium alloy or of titanium or a titanium alloy which has been plated with a different biocompatible metal, such as platinum, nickel or copper. The increased preload improves the stability of the dental implant assembly because greater mastication forces are then required to pry apart contiguous components of the implant assembly and bend the screws.

Abstract: A dental component attaches to an implant implanted in living jawbone having overlying gingiva. The implant has an apical end embedded within the jawbone and a gingival end near an interface of the gingiva and the jawbone. The dental component comprises a body having a lower region, a gingival region, and a supragingival region. The lower region has an end surface to engage the gingival end of the implant. The gingival region extends through the gingiva and has an outer surface for forming and maintaining an aperture in the gingiva that exposes the gingival end of the implant. The supragingival region has a top surface projecting above the gingiva. The dental component includes a bore for receiving a healing element and for receiving an impression element. The healing element includes a fastener the body to the implant so as to allow the gingiva to heal around the body for an extended period of time thereby forming the aperture.

Abstract: A bone mill for preparing the second-stage opening in crestal bone surrounding the gingival surface of a dental implant in a jawbone is tubular in form and has teeth with a negative rake on an end surface and the adjacent side surface for forming a shaped opening to the implant. The side surface of the mill near the end surface is tapered to the desired shape of the opening. A guide pin fixed in the implant mates with an opening in the bone mill to center the mill relative to the implant.

Abstract: An infection-blocking dental implant in which a threaded portion which contacts bone is roughened except for up to three threads which may be exposed by bone recession after implantation, which have a smooth surface. Preferably, the implant is of titanium or titanium alloy and the threaded portion is roughened by a two-step acid treatment.

Abstract: A dental implant intended for installation in maxillary and mandibular posterior regions where bone is cancellous internally and cortical externally characterized by labial and buccal cortical plates bounding a relatively large body of cancellous bone. The body of the implant fixture has a width dimension that is substantially the same as the distance between the labial and buccal cortical plates in the site of installation. When installed in that site the implant makes bone-to-implant contact with both of the plates simultaneously. The length of this implant fixture is limited so that when so installed it does not make contact with the mandibular canal or the sinus cavity.

Abstract: A dental implant fixture intended for installation in maxillary and mandibular posterior regions where bone is cancellous internally and cortical externally characterized by labial and lingual cortical plates bounding a relatively large body of cancellous bone. The body of the implant fixture has a width dimension that is substantially the same as the distance between the labial and lingual cortical plates in the site of installation and has a stop flange of substantially the same width at its gingival end. When the implant is installed in that site the stop flange makes bone-to-implant contact with the coronal bone which joins the plates. The length of this implant fixture is limited so that when so installed it does not make contact with the mandibular canal or the sinus cavity.

Abstract: A dental implant fixture intended for installation in maxillary and mandibular posterior regions where bone is cancellous internally and cortical externally characterized by buccal and lingual cortical plates bounding a relatively large body of cancellous bone. The body of the implant fixture has a width dimension that is substantially the same as the distance between the buccal and lingual cortical plates in the site of installation and has a stop flange of substantially the same width at its gingival end. When the implant is installed in that site the stop flange makes bone-to-implant contact with the coronal bone which joins the plates. The length of this implant fixture is limited so that when so installed it does not make contact with the mandibular canal or the sinus cavity.

Abstract: A support post for use with a dental implant for supporting a prosthesis thereon is disclosed. The support post includes an implant-contacting region and a supragingival core section which extends from the trans-tissue region for supporting a prosthesis. An interface member is secured to the post at the bottom of the implant-contacting region for abutment between the implant-contacting region and an implant to which the post is to be secured. The interface member has material properties different from those from which the post is made and compatible with those of the implant. Typically the support post is made of ceramic material while the insert is made of titanium having hardness properties no greater than that of the implant with which it is used.

Abstract: A dental implant packaging system for contamination-free packaging, storage, transport and delivery of dental implants and related components. Various embodiments of the system as applied to a dental implant and its cover screw are shown in which a dental implant is housed in a transparent tubular capsule that is lined with a titanium sleeve which covers the head and part of the body of the implant, leaving the tail end exposed to view. The head is restrained in the opening into the capsule and a cap which closes the capsule also serves to hold the head in place.

Abstract: A dental implant fixture intended for installation in maxillary and mandibular posterior regions where bone is cancellous internally ant cortical externally characterized by labial and lingual cortical plates bounding a relatively large body of cancellous bone. The body of the implant fixture has a width dimension that is substantially the same as the distance between the labial and lingual cortical plates in the site of installation When installed in that site the implant fixture makes bone-to-implant contact with both of the plates simultaneously The length of this implant fixture is limited so that when installed it does not make contact with the mandibular canal or the sinus cavities.

Abstract: An article of dental floss particularly for hygienic maintenance of titanium abutments which is in the form of a ribbon or an elongated strip of woven or non-woven flexible moisture-absorbent material having adequate strength when wet to resist breaking when pulled back and forth adjacent teeth abutments or implant abutments and over gum tissue and is sufficiently soft when wet to avoid scratching the abutments and cutting into or abrading the gum tissue. A relatively stiff leader at one end of the strip serves to thread the strip between teeth and under bridges and bars.

Abstract: A dental scaler particularly for scaling artificial dental abutments made of a material that is softer than natural dentition, such as titanium and its dilute alloys, without scratching the surface of the abutment. Two embodiments of the scaler are disclosed; in one the scaler tip has a contact surface that is softer than the abutment surface; in the other the contact surface has a contact edge that is rounded to avoid scratching the abutment surface.

Abstract: A driver for screws, bolts and the like which have a socket for receiving the bit of a driver, in which a tapered holding section between the bit and the shaft of the driver serves to hold an article by frictional engagement with the opening edge of the socket when the bit is engaged in the socket for turning the article. The bit is shorter than the depth of the socket, and the holding section expands sufficiently away from the bit so as to make frictional contact with the edge of the socket when the bit is engaged in the socket.

Abstract: Dental implant fixtures having external diameters less than 3.0 mm., and external threads which are deeper at the apical end of the fixture than elsewhere are described. The deeper threads near the apical end serve to pull the fixture into a prepared bore in the patient's jawbone. There results a firm close contact between the fixture and the host bone to promote osseointegration. Ultra-slim implant fixtures are provided which can be used in thin sections of human jawbone where dental implants were previously contra-indicated.

Abstract: A dental coping in the form of an elongated tubular body has a base portion adapted at a first end of the body to mate with the gingival aspect of the patient's implant fixture, and a thin-walled tubular portion extending to the other end of the body supragingivally from the base portion when the base portion is so mated. The base portion is substantially rigid, having a thicker sidewall than the thin-walled tubular portion. A shoulder is provided within the base portion for cooperating with a bolt to fasten the coping to the implant fixture. A flange extends outwardly fropm the coping, preferably from the rigid base portion, for fixing in place a temporary restoration formed around the coping. A conical socket in the base portion mates with a conical post on the implant fixture. The fabrication and use of fixed provisional restorations in partially edentulous patients undergoing treatment with osseointegrated fixtures is described.