Posted on 04/20/2005 9:16:37 AM PDT by LibWhacker
The robotic drilling system sends information on bone structure to a computer (Image: Tactile Technologies)
A “robotic” dentist's drill is to be tested on humans in Europe and the US, and could represent the first step towards more automated dental procedures.
The drill, developed by Tactile Technologies, based in Rehovot, Israel, is designed to take the complexity out of dental implant work. It could make operations cheaper, quicker and less painful for patients, its developers claim.
A dental implant is a small metal pin fixed into the jaw to mimic a tooth's root. It is used to anchor replacement teeth and bridges and installing one normally involves complicated and lengthy surgery.
Tactile Technologies has already tested parts of the system on animals and recently received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin trials on humans.
Press of a button
Firstly, a frame is clamped onto a patient's jaw and very thin needles penetrate the gum to determine the location of the bone. This data is wirelessly transmitted to a PC, which combines it with CT scan data to configure a set of drill guides. The guides are then attached to the frame and finally the dentist presses a button to start the drilling in the precise location required.
Once activated the drill is self-guiding but Opher Kinrot, who designed the system, stresses that the practitioner can still alter the drilling process at any time. "The system causes less trauma and brings dental implants to the general practitioner," says Kinrot, who designed the system. "Today it is only done by experts."
And he says this could be just the first step towards more automated dentistry. "In the future maybe something will actually drill for the dentist too," he told New Scientist.
“It sounds like quite a good idea,” says Kevin Seymour, a dental expert at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, UK. The information provided by the probing needles could be very useful, he says, but this might also have a long term impact on the gums: “This soft tissue around an implant is important to its success.”
Tactile Technologies plans to begin trials of the system at several unnamed hospitals in Europe and the US in summer 2005. The entire system is forecast to cost about $1000.
Any volunteers to be the first test subject?
That new,"less pain" stuff is for sissies. Let's stick with what works.
Gee, at that price it would be cheaper to just buy the system for personal home use, and save on the dental bills.
Methinks this is the first step to outsourcing dentists to India.
This thread has your name all over it!
How long does it take to take that thing off when it's time to "Spit"?
Now if we could only get the patient to hold still!
You're being challenged.
It probably dribbles down your chin and gets in all the nooks and crannies on the contraption . . . Then they toss it in the autoclave for a few minutes and put it in the next person's mouth. Yuck, no thanks! :-P
First off, the robot cannot properly administer Novacaine in the specific locations along the nerve centers like I can (if I feel like it).
Next, while drilling in an automated fashion can be done, each jaw is uniquie, and thus going into the jawbone is now highly likely, various sepsis can result, greater damages and stress fractures will be created, and the fillings impacting and overlaying the bloody sepsis with an impregnible layer.
Proper cleaning would still need to be performed by our nubile Hygenists. Little Katie... Marla... others...
Also, when the process is complete, you still need a dentist to check it's work, and my billing will need to go up in tandem with the costs/maintenance of such a machine.
And by the way, can a machine properly grope an unconscious patient of legal age???? I think not.
Octor! Octor! Ith urts lik hurrl!
Recorded voice: "I'm sorry, the Dentist isn't in
at the present time would you like to see a movie?"
"By the way the Robotechnition has decided you would
benefit from a tongue stud, would you like Gold, or
Stainless Steel?"
Murrrf! Gaaaagh!
"Thank you that will only take a minute and add slightly
to your bill. Would you like novacaine with that?"
Arrrrrrgh!
"Ok, your decision."
Ieeeeeeeeeeeeee!
"Now that looks stunned, I must say.
Please see the Roboreceptionist on your way out."
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