Fig. 1

Trends of technological changes in dental implant patents. In the early 2000s (2000 to 2004), dental implant technology focused on the development of manufacturing methods, structures and surface treatment technologies, but in recent years (2016 to 2020), the development of guides, modeling methods, and communication technologies used for treatment and diagnosis through the convergence of IT and CT has emerged prominently. Additionally, tantalum and zirconium are being studied as alternatives to titanium