DEVICE FOR THE CONTROLLED REMOVAL OF OSSEOINTEGRATED IMPLANTS AND IMPROVED OSSEODISINTEGRATABLE IMPLANTS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a medical device for freeing an implant from the bone of a patient to which the implant adheres to and to an implant for insertion into a bone of a patient, designed such that the implant is more homogenously heatable or coolable in a controlled way. Also provided is a method of removing an implant from a bone of a patient and a computer readable storage medium having recorded thereon a database structure.

Claims

1. A medical device for releasing an implant from a bone of a patient to which the implant adheres, the medical device comprising: (A) a device capable of heating and/or cooling the implant; (B) a controlling device configured to control the device (A); (C) a coupling device configured to releasably connect to said implant while said implant adheres to the bone of the patient; and (D) optionally an input device operably linked with the controlling device (B).

2. The medical device of claim 1, wherein heating energy and/or a cooling agent produced or released by the device (A) is transferred from the device (A) to said implant via the coupling device (C)

3. The medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant is a dental implant which is at least partially osseointegrated in the mandibular or maxillary bone of a patient.

4. The medical device of claim 3, wherein said coupling device (C) has at least part of the shape of a dental implant abutment which allows said coupling device (C) to be releasably connectable to said dental implant.

5. The medical device of claim 2, wherein said controlling device controls the amount of the heating energy and/or the cooling agent delivered to the implant to an amount that is sufficient to achieve osseodisintegration of bone material which contacts the implant;

6. The medical device of claim 5, wherein the osseodisintegration is limited to the bone material located within a distance of about 0.1 to 3 mm from a surface of the implant.

7. The medical device according to claim 2, wherein said controlling device controls the amount of the heating energy and/or the cooling agent delivered to the implant by limiting the amount of heating energy and/or cooling agent delivered to the implant in correlation to the parameter or parameters received by the input device (D).

8. The medical device of claim 1, wherein said controlling device (B) controls the device (A) such that said implant is first heated and then cooled or first cooled and then heated.

9. The medical device of claim 1, wherein the device (A) for heating the implant directly or indirectly delivers heating energy to the implant in the form of (i) mechanical energy, and/or (ii) radiation energy, and/or (iii) electrical energy and/or (iv) thermal energy.

10. An implant configured for use with the medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant is configured such that the implant is heatable and/or coolable and preferably homogeneously heatable and/or coolable.

11. The implant of claim 10, wherein said implant comprises a cavity that is or comprises a channel that has a diameter of maximally 25% of a diameter of the implant and wherein the channel has a diameter of at least 0.01 mm.

12. The implant of claim 10, wherein said implant comprises a cavity that is or comprises a channel extending along the longitudinal axis of the implant over a distance of at least 70%.

13. The implant of claim 12, wherein said implant comprises a cavity that is or comprises a channel extending along the longitudinal axis of the implant over a distance of at least 90% of the length of the implant.

14. The implant of claim 12, wherein said cavity opens only to a coronal surface of the implant.

15. The implant of claim 12, wherein said cavity opens only to a coronal surface of the implant.

16. A method of treating a patient with the implant of claim 10, comprising inserting the implant into a mandibular or maxillary bone of the patient, wherein the implant is a dental implant.

17. An implant configured for insertion into a bone of a patient according to claim 10, wherein the implant comprises a cavity that is or comprises a channel that has a diameter of maximally 25% of the implant's diameter, wherein the diameter of the channel is at least 0.01 mm, wherein said channel extends along the longitudinal axis of the implant over a distance of at least 80% of the length of the implant, and wherein said cavity opens only to the coronal surface of the implant.

18. The implant according to claim 17, wherein the diameter of the channel at the proximal end of the implant is smaller than the diameter of the channel at the distal end of the implant.

19. The implant according to claim 17, wherein said cavity comprises two different threaded sections.

20. The implant according to claim 17, wherein said cavity comprises a first threaded section capable of receiving a fixation screw capable of fixing an abutment to the implant and comprises a second threaded section suitable for receiving a coupling device of a heating or cooling device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0156] FIGS. 1A-C: Shown are different two-part devices comprising a dental implant (A, B or C). All parts are non-limiting examples, are illustrated as cross-sections and not drawn to scale. The dental implants shown are implantable into the mandibular or maxillary bone of a patient. Also shown in FIG. 1A is a conventional abutment part (D) for the two-part device. The proximal end of the abutment part can be inserted into the respective dental implant as shown, whereas the distal end of the abutment will face the oral cavity and a crown or a superstructure may be placed on this distal end of the abutment. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, dental implants (B) and (C) are according to the invention and comprise a cavity adapted to accommodate (i) a temperature sensor 13, (ii) a heating device, (iii) a cooling device and/or (iv) a coupling device capable of heating and/or cooling the implant (said cavity is depicted as hatched area). In the non-limiting examples (B) and (C) the cavity is a channel extending along the longitudinal axis of the implant. The heating and cooling can be achieved for example by using a coupling device as illustrated in (FIGS. 1A-E (reference letters (D), (E), (F), (G) or (H)) which has at least part of the shape of a dental implant abutment which allows said coupling device to be releasably connectable to said dental implant. As shown in FIG. 1A-E, the coupling device (D), (E), (F), (G), or (H) connects a heating/cooling device 10 to the implant (B) and (C) such that a channel 12 of implant (B) and (C) receives heating energy or a cooling agent delivered from the heating/cooling device 10. The heat and/or cold transfer is achievable using a medical device according to the invention comprising a coupling device as exemplified.

[0157] FIG. 2: Shows a different conventional type of two-part device comprising a dental implant (1) and a respective abutment part (2).

[0158] FIG. 3: Exemplary illustration of a dental implant according to the invention comprising a cavity (6) adapted to accommodate (i) a temperature sensor, (ii) a heating device, (iii) a cooling device and/or (iv) a coupling device capable of heating and/or cooling the implant.

[0159] FIGS. 4A-D: Shown are different types of preferred coupling devices according to the invention that can be used with the implant shown in FIG. 3. The coupling devices are capable of releasably connecting a device capable of heating and/or cooling the implant, to an implant such as the implant shown in FIG. 3.

[0160] When an implant to be removed is located in the patient and is osseointegrated in the bone, the dentist can chose from different types of coupling devices such as shown in FIGS. 1A-E (reference letters (D)-(H)) or FIGS. 4A-D) to heat and/or cool the implant. If the implant to be removed is a conventional implant (like implant A shown in FIG. 1A, i.e. one not modified according to this invention), he may have to choose a coupling device in the shape of coupling device (D) or (H) shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, because E-G coupling devices (E) and (G) shown in FIGS. 1B, 1D will not fit. For the conventional implant shown in FIG. 2 he preferably uses a coupling device as shown in FIG. 4A, because coupling devices shown in FIGS. 4B-D will not fit. A controlled thermal influencing of conventional implants (like implant (A) shown in FIGS. 1A and 2) to reach intended osseodisintegration will be possible using the medical device of the invention in connection with e.g. a coupling device (D), (H) and (a) as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1E and FIG. 4A, respectively. However, the thermal heating and/or cooling of the implant can be controlled over time even more precisely if the heating and/or cooling of the implant is more homogenous. This is possible when using implants modified according to this invention (such as shown in FIGS. 1B, 1C and 3).

[0161] If the implant to be removed is an implant modified according to this invention (like implants B and C shown in FIGS. 1B, 1C), he may choose for example a coupling device in the shape of coupling devices (D)-(H) shown in FIGS. 1A-E, and preferably a coupling device according to any of the coupling devices (E)-(G) shown in FIGS. 1B-D, depending on the expected region of osseointegration on the implant's surface. If the complete implant is osseointegrated, he may choose coupling device F shown in FIG. 1C, to thermally influence the whole body of the implant. If only the proximal part of the implant is expected to be osseointegrated, as is clinically frequently the case with periimplantitis, he may choose type G shown in FIG. 1D, to influence especially the proximal part of the implant. Therefore, in the device G the distal part connecting to the distal walls of the implant should have little surface connecting directly to the implant and be of low thermal conductivity.

[0162] If the implant to be removed is an implant modified according to this invention (like FIG. 3), the treating medical expert may choose a coupling device in the shape of coupling device (b) shown in FIG. 4B, coupling device (c) shown in FIG. 4C, or coupling device (d) shown in FIG. 4D, depending on the expected region of osseointegration on the implant's surface. If the complete implant is osseointegrated, he may choose coupling device c, to thermally influence the whole body of the implant. If only the proximal part of the implant is expected to be osseointegrated, as is clinically often the case with periimplantitis, he may choose coupling device (d) shown in FIG. 4D, to selectively influence especially the proximal part of the implant. Therefore, the coupling device (d) shown in FIG. 4D is designed such that the most distal part of the coupling device has a reduced contact with the distal walls of the implant when the coupling device is inserted into the implant, resulting in low thermal conductivity between the distal region of the implant and the distal part of the coupling device.

[0163] Many different shapes and designs are possible for the implants of the invention, for the respective coupling devices and the coupling devices for conventional implants.

LISTING OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0164] (1) Dental implant [0165] (2) Abutment [0166] (3) Distal part [0167] (4) Indentation [0168] (5) Protrusion [0169] (6) Cavity adapted to accommodate a temperature sensor, a heating device and/or a cooling device