Implant positioning device and method

摘要

The invention includes a method and apparatus to guide a dental drill to drill a bore into which a dental implant may be inserted at a particular axis. The dentist first takes an impression of a selected patient's dental arch. The cast dental arch is then formed from the impression. A dental professional then determines the desired location of the desired axis. A proxy implant having a proxy axis is placed in the cast dental arch with the proxy axis co-incident with the desired location of the desired axis. A stent is then formed of the tooth crowns from the cast dental arch. The stent has incorporated into it a locating barrel. A drill head with a drill alignment arm is provided to the dentist for fixation to a dental drill hand piece. The kit of parts provided to the dentist includes the stent with its incorporated locating barrel. The drill alignment arm provided to the dentist for attachment to the drill head and a plurality of drills. By using the stent with its incorporated locating barrel, the dentist's drill is guided into the desired location by interaction of the pin of the drill alignment arm with the locating barrel in the stent. By additionally controlling the length of the drills, the location, axis and depth of the drill hole made by the dentist will exactly coincide with the designed location, depth and orientation of the implant.