A position locator for use in dental restorative procedure is described. The position locator is inserted into a replica of a dental implant or into a replica of an abutment. The position and orientation of the implant replica can be determined by scanning the model with the implant replica and the position locator. Alternatively, the position locator can be inserted into the dental implant and scanning can be carried out in the mouth of the patient. The position locator can be made of an optically opaque material, such as titanium, and can have an outer surface detectable by an optical scanner, e.g. with a layer of porous titanium oxide applied through anodic oxidation.
