Oral endosteal implants and a process for preparing and implanting them

Claim 1

The process of providing an endosteal implant for the human jaw, comprising the following steps in the order recited: a. extracting a tooth to leave a socket for later reception of an endosteal implant, said socket having a socket wall and the property of remaining suitably fresh for a sufficient period of time; b. promptly after its extraction, preparing a model of at least the major portion of the root of said extracted tooth; c. from said model preparing an implant comprising a replica of said model, said implant having an outer surface made of material having the property of osseointegration with bony structure forming said socket; d. within the period of time the socket remains suitably fresh, removing material from said socket which has accumulated since the extraction, and exposing the bony structure forming said socket wall without significant removal of any bony structure which remained after the extraction so as to minimize change of shape of the socket wall; and e. inserting and retaining said implant into said socket in surface-to-surface contiguity with a substantial area of the socket wall, whereby to provide for osseointegration of the contiguous areas of the implant and socket wall.