1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for providing procedure guide information for a dental implant using a surgical guide for a dental implant and, more particularly, to a method for providing procedure guide information using a surgical guide for a dental implant such that convenience of a procedure using the surgical guide is improved.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Implants generally refer to replacement materials capable of replacing damaged human tissue, and particularly artificial teeth in dentistry. An implant procedure is a procedure for placing a fixture made of, for instance, titanium, etc. which is free from a rejection reaction by a human body in an alveolar bone from which a natural tooth has been removed such that the fixture can replace a missing root of the natural tooth and then fixing an abutment and a crown to the fixture to recover a function of the natural tooth.
The implant procedure is made up of a process of drilling a hole in an alveolar bone, a process of placing a fixture in the alveolar bone, and a process of coupling an abutment and a crown to the fixture. Here, the processes of drilling the hole and placing the fixture show great differences between patients. This is because a position, a direction, and a depth of an implant are decided in view of various factors such as conditions of the alveolar bone of a patient, a position of a tooth required for the implant, and so on.
In these processes of drilling the hole and placing the fixture, surgeons with little experience in the procedure as well as experienced surgeons have considerable difficulties in accurately evaluating the depth and direction of the implant.
For this reason, a method of assisting the processes of drilling the hole and placing the fixture using a surgical guide prepared on the basis of a three-dimensional image acquired through computed tomography (CT) and oral scan of an oral cavity of a patient is being used.
Here, the surgical guide is prepared to be able to acquire CT and oral scan images of the inside of the oral cavity of the patient, establish an implant procedure plan from a result of matching the two images, and guide a procedure according to the implant procedure plan.
Then, a hole is drilled in an alveolar bone of the patient on the basis of the prepared surgical guide, and a fixture is selected and placed according to a type of tooth corresponding to a position of the hole. At this time, in the surgical guide, each guide hole rotatably supporting a circumference of a drill bit is formed at a position corresponding to the position of the drilled hole, and a drilling process is performed under guidance of the guide hole.
Here, the drilling process is made up of various steps such as a step of removing gum tissue, a step of setting a position of an alveolar bone, a step of flattening the alveolar bone, a step of forming and expanding an initial hole, a step of forming threads, and so on. In the drilling process, drills having different diameters and shapes in each of the steps and drill assist devices are used. Further, in the surgical guide, the drills and the drill assist devices used in each of the steps may be changed according to a position of the guide hole formed corresponding to the position at which the implant of the patient is placed, a diameter of the drilled hole, and the conditions of the alveolar bone.
Moreover, a fixture having a diameter and a height suitable for the hole drilled under the guidance of the guide hole should be implanted.
Accordingly, there is a problem in that confusion arises for a surgeon when selecting the appropriate drills and the drill assist devices according to each of the steps of the drilling process, the position of the guide hole, and the conditions of the alveolar bone and when placing the fixture matched with the drilled hole, and thus causing a procedure to be delayed.
That is, as each of the drills is selected according to memory or experience of a surgeon, the order of the selected drill is frequently changed by a mistake of the surgeon. For this reason, the diameter or internal threads of the drilled hole are not accurately formed, and osseointegration becomes slow after the fixture is placed. In more serious cases, the fixture becomes twisted after the osseointegration.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds