Study Provides Overview of Robotics in Dentistry

Japan: Robotics is an area of rapid advancement and has attracted increasing attention in various fields, including medicine. The application of robotics in medicine has been successful, with medical robots being used in rehabilitation, surgery, and endoscopy.

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Recently, the application of robotics in dentistry has been explored, which has the potential to break through the previous oral diagnosis and treatment models, promoting a new avenue of technological innovation.

A recent study conducted by Lipei Liu, Megumi Watanabe, and Tetsuo Ichikawa from the Department of Prosthodontics and Oral Rehabilitation at Tokushima University, Japan, aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the basic and applied research status of robotics in dentistry and discussed its development and application prospects in several major professional fields of dentistry.

China Published the Most Articles on Dental Robots

The study conducted a literature search on MEDLINE, IEEE, and Cochrane Library databases, using MeSH terms: [“robotics” and “dentistry”]. Forty-nine articles were eventually selected according to certain inclusion criteria.

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The results of the study showed that the number of articles published between 2011 and 2015 was the largest. Of the studies included, 12 were on prosthodontics, accounting for 24%, and 11 studies were on dental implantology, accounting for 23%. China published the most articles on the topic, followed by Japan and the United States.

The development of robots in dental medicine has promoted the advancement of intelligent, precise, and minimally invasive dental treatments. Currently, robots are used in basic and applied research in various specialized fields of dentistry. Automatic tooth-crown-preparation robots, tooth-alignment robots, drilling robots, and orthodontic archwire-bending robots that meet clinical requirements have been developed.

Dentists Still Required to Monitor Process

Although there have been successful cases of robot application in dental treatment, the operation process requires dentists to set the program and input the corresponding data on the basis of early judgment before the robot can complete the steps.

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During the operation, dentists are also required to monitor the process in real time. In case of data error, circuit interruption and other unexpected conditions, the consequences would be unimaginable without the help of dentists. On the other hand, for some complex problems, robots are still unable to solve them. For example, some implant patients need bone grafts, and these operations are difficult to be completed by robots.

According to the study, the application of robots in dental treatment has the potential to change the existing dental treatment model and guide new directions for further development.

Read the full article: Robotics in Dentistry: A Narrative Review.