Amazing news of technological advancement in China where robots are now helping dentists work within the smallest, hard-to-reach spaces inside the mouth.
In September, a robot dentist carried out the first successful dental implant surgery, fitting two new teeth into a woman’s mouth without human assistance.
The procedure took only 1-hour.
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The implants were fitted to within a margin of error of 0.2-0.3mm, reaching the required standard for this kind of operation, Chinese dental experts said.
Researchers designed the robot, which combines dentists’ expertise and the benefits of technology, to help overcome mainland China’s shortage of qualified dentists and frequent surgical errors.
Around one million implants are carried out across the country each year and the poor quality of the surgery that patients face can often cause further problems. Experts hope the new dentist robots can bypass this problem as they’re able to determine the movements, angle and depth needed to fit the new teeth inside a cavity in the patient’s mouth.
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In recent years robots have also been used to assist dentists with procedures such as root canal surgery and orthodontic operations as well as in training students.
Here in the U.S., the US Food and Drug Administration in March approved the use of a robot system named Yomi which is also designed to assist human surgeons when fitting implants.
Stay tuned…