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The makers envision 'fully automated dental healthcare.'
It’s unclear if enlisting large robots for dental procedures like root canals will make visits any more pleasant—if anything, it’s easier to envision many patients canceling their appointments at such a possibility. Still, at least one company swears autonomous machines are destined for dentistry, and reportedly tested one on a human volunteer as proof.
Perceptive, based in Boston, promises its combination of advanced optical coherence tomography (OCT), AI programming, and robotics will one day dramatically reduce time spent in the chair for many standard teeth treatments. At the same time, they intend to deploy their technology (still in the prototype stages) to underserved communities while offering more accurate health assessments than today’s commonplace X-ray screenings. But if you still aren’t sold on the thought of ceding your chompers to an AI-guided drill bit, Perceptive apparently went ahead and queued up a demonstration video—sidestepping IRB and FDA approval in order to show its machine autonomously preparing a patient’s tooth for a dental crown.
According to Perceptive, their machine can already handle the normally two-hour, two-session process in just a single, 15-minute sitting. To achieve this eightfold reduction in time, the company relies on an “easy-to-use, handheld intraoral scanner” that uses OCT technology to capture three-dimensional data of a patient’s mouth, including under the tooth surface, below the gum line, and through any residual fluids. Perceptive claims its 3D, light-based OCT imaging is 90-percent accurate in detecting cavity formations versus an allegedly 45-percent accuracy found with current 2D X-ray readings, while also generating no ionizing radiation in the process.
www.popsci.com
It’s unclear if enlisting large robots for dental procedures like root canals will make visits any more pleasant—if anything, it’s easier to envision many patients canceling their appointments at such a possibility. Still, at least one company swears autonomous machines are destined for dentistry, and reportedly tested one on a human volunteer as proof.
Perceptive, based in Boston, promises its combination of advanced optical coherence tomography (OCT), AI programming, and robotics will one day dramatically reduce time spent in the chair for many standard teeth treatments. At the same time, they intend to deploy their technology (still in the prototype stages) to underserved communities while offering more accurate health assessments than today’s commonplace X-ray screenings. But if you still aren’t sold on the thought of ceding your chompers to an AI-guided drill bit, Perceptive apparently went ahead and queued up a demonstration video—sidestepping IRB and FDA approval in order to show its machine autonomously preparing a patient’s tooth for a dental crown.
According to Perceptive, their machine can already handle the normally two-hour, two-session process in just a single, 15-minute sitting. To achieve this eightfold reduction in time, the company relies on an “easy-to-use, handheld intraoral scanner” that uses OCT technology to capture three-dimensional data of a patient’s mouth, including under the tooth surface, below the gum line, and through any residual fluids. Perceptive claims its 3D, light-based OCT imaging is 90-percent accurate in detecting cavity formations versus an allegedly 45-percent accuracy found with current 2D X-ray readings, while also generating no ionizing radiation in the process.
Robot dentist can prep a root canal in 15 minutes
The makers envision 'fully automated dental healthcare.'
www.popsci.com
