Abstract
An anatomical dental implant arranged to be implanted in a naturally occurring cavity of the jawbone, the implant comprising at its apical side a root part arranged to anchor the implant in the cavity and at its occlusal side an abutment part arranged for supporting a dental prosthetic element, wherein the root part comprises an outer surface arranged to come into contact with the cavity walls, and wherein the root part comprises an outer section adjacent to the outer surface of the root part, wherein the outer section of the root part is arranged to deform plastically upon insertion of the root part into the cavity such that the root part substantially conforms to the shape and size of the cavity.
Claims
1-19. (canceled)
20. An anatomical dental implant (5) arranged to be implanted in a naturally occurring cavity (1) of the jawbone (3), the implant (5) comprising at its apical side a root part (6) arranged to anchor the implant (5) in the cavity (1) and at its occlusal side an abutment part (7) arranged for supporting a dental prosthetic element (8), wherein the root part (6) comprises an outer surface (11) arranged to come into contact with the cavity walls (12), and wherein the root part (6) comprises an outer section (13) adjacent to the outer surface (11) of the root part (6), wherein the root part (6) is a porous structure comprising a three-dimensional network of open interconnected pores such that the outer section (13) of the root part (6) is arranged to deform plastically upon insertion of the root part (6) into the cavity (2) such that the root part (6) substantially conforms to the shape and size of the cavity (2).
21. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the outer section (13) of the root part (6) has a compressive strength before plastic deformation lower than 10 MPa, preferably lower than 5 MPa.
22. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the abutment part (7) has a compressive strength which is higher than the compressive strength of the outer section (13), preferably above 50 MPa.
23. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the compressive strength of the root part (6) gradually increases along the root part (6) from a low compressive strength at a position adjacent to the outer surface (11) of the outer section (13) towards a higher compressive strength at a position adjacent to the abutment part (7).
24. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the outer section (13) of the root part (6) has a strain at fracture above 15%, preferably above 20%.
25. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the three-dimensional network of open interconnected pores is formed by a three-dimensional network of struts (16) having opposite ends, wherein struts (16) are interconnected at their ends to form a plurality of nodes (17), and wherein at least three struts (16) are interconnected in each node (17).
26. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the three dimensional network of struts (16) is formed by body cubic centered unit cells of which the lattice points correspond to the nodes (17) of the three dimensional network of struts (16).
27. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 25 wherein the length of the struts (16) of the porous structure in the outer section (13) of the root part (6) is between 1 mm and 5 mm.
28. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 25 wherein the width of the struts (16) of the porous structure in the outer section (13) of the root part (6) is between 50 μm and 400 μm.
29. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 25 wherein the ratio of length to width of the struts (16) of the porous structure in the outer section (13) is between 5 and 25.
30. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the porosity of the porous structure of the outer section (13) of the root part (6) is between 80% and 99,5%.
31. The anatomical dental implant (5) claim 20 wherein the porosity of the porous structure of the root part (6) gradually increases along the root part (6) from a high porosity at a position adjacent to the outer surface (11) of the outer section (13) towards a lower porosity at a position adjacent to the abutment part (7).
32. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the root part (6) has a shape prior to plastic deformation corresponding substantially to the shape of the root part of a natural tooth.
33. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the material forming the root part (6) is different from the material forming the abutment part (7).
34. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20 wherein the abutment part (7) is formed together with the root part (6) such that the root part (6) and the abutment part (7) form a continuous structure.
35. The anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 33, wherein the transition of the material from the root part (6) to the abutment part (7) is a gradual transition.
36. A method for manufacturing the anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 20, wherein the implant (5) is manufactured using additive manufacturing.
37. A method for manufacturing the anatomical dental implant (5) according to claim 36 wherein the additive manufacturing is performed by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology in combination with selective power dispensing technology.
Description
FIGURES
[0019] FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of a naturally occurring cavity in the jawbone after removal of the natural tooth.
[0020] FIGS. 2a-2b show a cross sectional view of embodiments of the dental implant according to the present invention, wherein the abutment part is attached to the root part in different manners.
[0021] FIG. 3a shows a cross sectional view of the dental implant of FIG. 2a after implementation in the natural occurring cavity of FIG. 1.
[0022] FIG. 3b shows a cross sectional view of the implanted dental implant as shown in FIG. 3a wherein the initial shape and size of the root part of the dental implant is shown in dotted line.
[0023] FIG. 4 shows the macro geometry and its constituting unit cell of the dental implant of FIG. 2b.
[0024] FIG. 5 shows the macro geometries and their constituting units cells of an alternative dental implant.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0025] Hereinafter the invention will be described in certain embodiments and in reference to the accompanying figures. The present invention is however not limited by the following description.
[0026] FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of a naturally occurring cavity 1 in the jawbone 3 after removal of the natural tooth. The cavity 1 penetrates the jawbones 3 bone material 2 and opens up in the soft tissue 4 such as the gingival tissue that covers the jawbone. The cavity 2 is delimited by cavity walls 12 of bone material 2.
[0027] FIGS. 2a-2b show a cross sectional view of embodiments of the dental implant 5 according to the present invention. The implant 5 comprises at its apical side a root part 6 arranged to anchor the implant 5 in the cavity 1 and at its occlusal side an abutment part 7 arranged for supporting a dental prosthetic element 8 such as an artificial tooth crown or bridge trough cementation or screw fixation. The abutment part 7 comprises coupling means 10, i.e. lateral protrusions, that enable to couple the dental prosthetic element 8 to the abutment part 7. The root part 6 comprises an outer surface 11 arranged to come into contact with the cavity walls 12, in particular with the bone material 2 forming the cavity walls 12. The root part 6 comprises an outer section 13 adjacent to the outer surface 11 of the root part 6. Upon implantation as shown in FIGS. 3a-3b, the root part 6 is arranged to substantially reside within the bone material 2 of the jawbone 3, whilst the abutment part 7 is arranged to substantially reside at the level of the soft tissue 4. The root part 6 shown in FIG. 2a exhibits a larger diameter than the lower part of the abutment part 7, however the dimension of the upper size of the root part 6 and the dimension of the lower part of the abutment part 7 may also be substantially the same size. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 2b, the abutment part 7 comprises a protrusion 9 which protrudes into the root part 6, such as to stable anchor the abutment part 7 to the root part 6. The abutment part 7 and root part 6 are formed together, in particular by additive manufacturing, such as to form a continuous structure. In an alternative embodiment the abutment part 7 and the root part 6 could be manufactured as separate bodies, while protrusion 9 of the abutment part could for example comprise a thread that is received in a corresponding screw hole of the root part. The abutment part 7 may be made from a different material than the root part 6. In order to form a continuous structure comprising said different materials, the additive manufacturing is performed by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology in combination with selective power dispensing technology. The dental implant 5 of the present invention is characterized in that the outer section 13 of the root part 6 is arranged to deform plastically upon insertion of the root part 6 into the cavity 1 such that the root part 6 substantially conforms to the shape and size of the cavity 1. FIG. 3a shows a cross sectional view of the dental implant 5 of FIG. 2a after implementation in the natural occurring cavity 2 of FIG. 1, i.e. after plastic deformation of the outer section 13 of the root part 6. FIG. 3b shows a cross sectional view of the implanted dental implant 5 as shown in FIG. 3a wherein the initial shape and size of the root part 6 of the dental implant 5 is shown in dotted line.
[0028] FIG. 4 shows the macro geometry 14 and its constituting unit cell 15 of the root part 6 of the dental implant 5 of FIG. 2b. The macro geometry 14 is a porous structure. This porous structure is a three-dimensional network of open interconnected pores formed by a three-dimensional network of struts 16 having opposite ends, wherein struts 16 are interconnected at their ends to form a plurality of nodes 17, and wherein struts 16 are interconnected in each node 17. This structure is easily obtained using the above mentioned additive manufacturing techniques. In FIG. 4, the struts 16 form body cubic centered unit cells of which the lattice points correspond to the nodes 17 of the three dimensional network of struts, but of course alternative unit cell designs can be used as well. The strut width d1, and the unit cell length l1 have been chosen such that the outer section 13 deform plastically upon insertion of the root part 6 in the cavity 2. Although not shown, the strut width d1 and/or the unit cell length l1 respectively increase and/or decrease along a gradient from the outer surface 11 of the outer section 13 towards the abutment part 7, such as to reduce discrete jumps in macro geometry for example between the root part 6 and the abutment part 7, thereby avoiding stress concentrations. The macro geometry of the abutment part 7 is a solid structure, i.e. comprising substantially no pores.
[0029] FIG. 5 shows the macro geometries 14 and their constituting units cells 15 of an alternative dental implant 5. The dental implant 5 corresponds to the dental implant 5 shown in FIG. 2b, but differs in that the outer section 13 does not cover the entire root part 6. An inner section 18 is provided between the outer section 13 and the abutment part 7. The inner section 18 has a higher initial compressive strength than the outer section 13 enabling to stably anchor the abutment part 7, i.e. without plastically deforming upon insertion of the root part 6 into the cavity 2. The macro geometry 14 of both the outer section 13 and the inner section 18 is a porous structure. This porous structure is a three-dimensional network of open interconnected pores formed by a three-dimensional network of struts 16 having opposite ends, wherein struts 16 are interconnected at their ends to form a plurality of nodes 17, and wherein struts 16 are interconnected in each node 17. This structure is easily obtained using the above mentioned additive manufacturing techniques. The struts 16 form body cubic centered unit cells of which the lattice points correspond to the nodes 17 of the three dimensional network of struts 16. The strut width d1, and the unit cell length l1 in the outer section 13 have been chosen such that the outer section 13 deform plastically upon insertion of the root part 6 in the cavity 2. The strut width d2, and the unit cell length l2 in the inner section 18 have been chosen such that the inner section 13 does not deform plastically upon insertion of the root part 6 in the cavity 2. Although not shown, the unit cell lengths l1, l2 may decrease along a gradient from the outer surface 11 of the outer section 13 towards the abutment part 7, such as to reduce discrete jumps in macro geometry for example between the root part 6 and the abutment part 7, thereby avoiding stress concentrations. The macro geometry of the abutment part 7 is a solid structure, i.e. comprising substantially no pores. In an alternative embodiment the inner section 18 of the root part 6 may be a fully dense material. In said alternative embodiment, the outer section 13 is for example made of a commercially pure titanium porous structure, the inner section 18 is for example made of a commercially pure titanium solid (i.e. non-porous) structure, and the abutment part 7 is for example made of a solid part of titanium alloy such as Ti6Al4V.
