Dentistry – Prosthodontics – Holding or positioning denture in mouth
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-05
2003-01-14
O'Connor, Cary E. (Department: 3732)
Dentistry
Prosthodontics
Holding or positioning denture in mouth
Reexamination Certificate
active
06506051
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bone implant, preferably a bone implant for implanting prosthetic pieces in a bone, such as dental prosthesis in a bone, the implant comprising a fixing piece or body to be affixed in a bone and a mounting intermediate member for receiving the prosthesis piece, the mounting member being capable of being removed without traumatic effects for the patient in the event that the prosthesis or a fixing stud thereof is broken. The intermediate member can be removed even after a long time with the fixing body already integrated into the bone. Of course, the concepts of the invention are easily applied to any implant piece that must be implanted in a human being or animal bone. In addition, the invention is not only applied to expandable implants, of the type that can be initially expanded to get a retention into the bone, but also to non-expandable implants. According to the invention the implant, if of the expandable type, comprises, in combination with the intermediate member, an expanding assembly which may be operated through the intermediate member for the intermediate member for installation purposes but the intermediate member may be disengaged from the expanding assembly in order to be removed from the implant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in medical art to provide bone implants that are useful for affixing a prosthetic piece in a bone, in replacement of any lacking natural piece or member or for joining parts of one or more bones. More, particularly, these implants are well known in the odontology wherein dental implants are used for replacing a dental piece that has been lost or extracted either in a human or animal patient. One of the problems or traumatic drawbacks of implanting a dental prosthesis in a patient is that a long time is necessary to assure to the patient that the implant is entirely or totally integrated to the bone of the patient. Generally, after the extraction or loosening of the dental piece, a fixing body of the implant is inserted and implanted into the bone and several months must pass to determine whether the fixing body has been integrated to the bone or bone fibers of the bore in the bone, this determination being necessary to continue or not with the next step of affixing the prosthetic piece into the implant. If the body has not been integrated the same must be replaced and a new waiting period begins again. This provokes anxiety and affliction in the patient who must await for months before receiving a positive diagnosis from the odontologist or the implantologist and upon a negative diagnosis the patient knows that the fixing body must be removed and that several additional months must pass. With the purpose of shortening these waiting periods, some implants, either of the expandable or non-expandable type have been developed. The expandable increased bone growth is generated. These implants are installed within the bone orifice or bore resulting from the loosened or removed dental piece or within a bore made in the bone, and the implant is radially expanded in order to get a positive initial pressure and retention. During the first weeks after the installation, it is possible to verify whether micro-mobility exists and, if the micro-mobility is detected, the implant is additionally expanded to improve the radial retention. The purpose of these additional expansions is to obtain immobility of the fixing piece that is fundamental for obtaining the integration of the piece into the bone. While these implants have been improved insofar as to the micro mobility is concerned, the same have not taken into account an important aspect of the implants, that is the need of replacing a broken prosthesis after a long elapsed time from the integration of the implant into the bone. Another aspect not taken into account by the prior art is that the expanding means used for expanding the expandable implants must be easy and safe to operate without complex and excessive friction mechanisms.
Generally, prosthetic dental pieces are affixed to a fixation stud or abutment that is installed by threading or adhesive within the fixing or mounting body that is already integrated into the bone. During the use of the prosthetic piece, if the fixing stud is broken within the fixing body that is already integrated or implanted, the broken portion of the stud that remains within the implanted body must be removed before a new prosthetic piece is re-installed. Any professional skilled in the art knows that the removal of this broken stud in the small room of the patient's mouth is very difficult if not impossible. Said broken portion is not accessible and very frequently the portion cannot be extracted, therefore the implant body must be removed from its implantation by drilling the patient's bone to release the fixing body from the bone, what is very traumatic for the patient.
The initial fixation of the implant has been treated by several professionals and disclosed in many documents like U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,004,421 and 5,087,199 to Lazarof, which disclose expandable implants having a fixing piece that is introduced and threaded into a patient's bone and has a hollow interior that is also threaded and a plurality of longitudinal cuts in the implant body. An expanding piece is arranged within the hollow interior, the piece being acceded from a top end of the fixing body by means of a tool that is introduced within the implant body to cause the expanding piece to rotate and move upwardly in order to expand the implant body to enhance the retention thereof into the bone. An upper portion of the fixation body has a threaded inner orifice for receiving a fixing stud or abutment of the dental prosthesis. While a better initial fixation is achieved, no consideration is made to the event that the prosthesis stud is broken and the prosthesis is loosened.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,210 discloses a dental implant having a fixation body that is introduced within the body and has a plurality of longitudinal cuts at a lower end of the body, this lower end being expanded by an expanding piece that is introduced through an upper end into the implant body and exerts a pressure against the lower end of the body to outwardly radially expand the same against the bone. Again, the initial pressure of the implant against the bone is improved but a solution to the event of a broken stud is neither disclosed nor suggested. The stud of the prosthetic piece is mounted directly within the fixing body of the implant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,688 discloses an expandable dental implant also comprising a hollow tubular outer body that is affixed by expansion into the bone, the expansion being obtained by an expanding screw that is inserted into the hollow body and the initial fixation of the implant is improved. This patent does not disclose any solution to the event that the prosthesis and its fixing stud is loosened or broken. In like manner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,674 discloses an expandable implant very similar to Patent '688 but no means for permitting an easy removal of a broken fixing stud are provided neither the problem is addressed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,883 to Flander discloses a dental implant having an elongated tubular body of the expandable type with an elongated spreader screw extending through the tubular body and a wedge-shaped spreader at a distal end of the screw, the screw being actuated by pulling means in the form of a nut which is turned to pull the spreader means beyond the nut and expand the body. Spreader threaded stem is moved upwardly and projects out from the body thus forming an obstacle for any mounting work necessary at a proximal end of the body when installing the dental prosthesis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,753 to Biedermann discloses a bone screw with a shaft having threaded portions at a bottom and a top of the shaft, with a tip fixed at the bottom of the shaft to expand the bone screw when the shaft is rotated within the bone screw. First, the shaft must be rotated
Greer, Burns & Crain, LTD.
O'Connor Cary E.
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