Japanese robot successfully extracts wisdom tooth from Tokyo patient
A robot, specially designed to extract wisdom teeth, was used recently for the first ever procedure of this type on a human patient. The patient who took part in this trial was a 55 year old Tokyo resident.
One of developers of this unique robotic technology, known as “Alla Dente”, and its program is Ishaki Morakuni who said: “We had a lot of luck when developing “Alla Dente”.
According to Morakuni, “Alla Dente”is part of a long term, large scale and ambitious program that has set itself the goal of replacing 30% of Japanese dentists with robots by the year 2030 . The robots will be carefully programmed to perform delicate wisdom tooth extraction procedures in dental clinics across Japan.
The team who are developing the robot say that there were no complications during the procedure and that the patient suffered no unusual discomfort.
Exact details about the operation are not clear at this time and it is not known whether the tooth in question was impacted or not and whether the procedure involved surgical or non-surgical intervention. In addition, details regarding post-operative care, whether performed by the robot or a human dentist, are not known.
The software and the robot performed perfectly
Morakuni continued: “The software and the robot performed perfectly. We already knew that “Alla Dente”was more than capable of successfully performing such a delicate dental procedure. But there’s a difference between knowing and actually performing the procedure on a human being and extracting a wisdom tooth.
“I have to admit that there were moments when I felt sorry for our first real patient. But it’s really great knowing that the test was completely successful. Previous tests indicated that the amount of blood loss could have been far greater.”
But not everybody is happy about this new technology. Many dentists have expressed concerns regarding the spread of this technology and the use of robots in dentistry.
Questions are being raised as to how this could affect society and also about the ability of the robot to react to, and deal with problems and emergencies that occur during a procedure.
In France, for example, some groups, are taking action to ensure that this technology isn’t introduced into their dental clinics.
The spokesperson for one such group has said that: “We are very proud of our profession and the work we do. We cannot accept that robots can come in and replace us. Patients must understand that while a robot may be able to extract a tooth, who will be there to reassure them, joke with them or, when blood start flowing from an extraction, quickly and effectively staunch it”.
