Researchers in Switzerland have developed a miniature dental robot that could one day automatically prepare teeth for crowns. The technology—described in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics—could help reduce the number of appointments needed for dental treatment.
The small dental robot prototype developed by researchers at the University of Basel is about the size of a wine cork, measuring just 43 by 26 by 28 millimetres. Its motors and control system are located outside the robot and connected to it via flexible drive shafts, cables and tubes.
“It is designed to be small enough to fit comfortably into an open mouth,” first author Dr Yukiko Tomooka said.
The prototype, called ‘MIR’—short for ‘Miniature Intraoral Robot’—is designed to prepare teeth precisely according to a digital plan. The idea is that after a scan during the first appointment, dentists can plan exactly how the robot will remove the tooth material, and order the crown right away, rather than waiting until a second appointment.
The scan is used not only to plan the crown but also to produce a custom-fitted dental splint to which the mini dental robot is attached.
The researchers tested their dental robot on tooth models made of synthetic resin and on a ceramic material to approximate tooth enamel.
The robot prepared the tooth in two steps: first, it used a wide drill to reduce the tooth surface, removing material from above. In the second step, a longer, thinner drill worked on the sides of the tooth.
The dental robot could work precisely even without sensors to measure or correct its position. In tests, the positional error was less than 0.2 millimetres, which will be further reduced after sensors are integrated into the system.
In addition to precision, the researchers also measured the forces generated during drilling. In the tests, these remained below five newtons, roughly equivalent to the gravitational force of a half-litre bottle of water.
