How long will it be until robots become part of the dental team? With new advancements in technology, this new frontier is growing close.
Released in a statement this summer, researchers at the University of Basel have produced a chairside dental robot that could one day automatically prepare teeth for crowns.
The robot itself doesn’t appear how you think it might – it’s far from RoboCop, and instead is around the size of a wine cork, just 43mm x 26mm x 28mm. The motors and controls are located externally, and are connected to the device via flexible drive shafts, cables and tubes.
Called MIR (Miniature Intraoral Robot), it prepares teeth according to a digital plan, which can reduce overall treatment time for patients. Typically, a clinician would have to prepare a tooth first, and then a crown would be designed around this, but here the entire workflow is flipped on its head. The restoration can be quickly designed in advance of placement, allowing for same-day placement in some cases.
The University of Basel reports the MIR to be precise, with a positional error in testing of less than 0.2 millimetres. This is before sensors are integrated into the system to further measure and correct positioning.
It is not yet ready for patient care, but shows the ways in which these new solutions could change clinical processes. In such a case, robots are not necessarily replacing clinical roles and rendering skill redundant – professionals need to be prepared to step in and provide care when the robot is not appropriate for use, as well as design the digital workflow with care.
Robots in wider healthcare are continuing to develop. The NHS has been introducing surgical robots, controlled by professionals through real-time video.
Two humanoid robots have also performed surgery on a live patient for the first time in the USA, reports Forbes. Similar to something out of a scene in your favourite sci-fi series, the humanoid robots were controlled by surgeons, and operated on a pig. It was part of an experiment to see if humanoid designs offered any benefit over purpose-made solutions, and the answer is probably not right now.
With rapid advancements in technology and changes in attitudes towards how they could be utilised, given time, we could be on our way to the first RoboDentist – emphasis on “given time”.
>Since you’re here, why not read about the proposed protections around the title of “nurse”?
Main image credit: Unsplash
