Robotic Automation in Dental Hygienics
Advisor: Mr. Yanni Kostopoulos
Internship Location: Rosen & Deutch, DDS
Onsite Mentor: Andrew S. Deutch, DDS
The field of Dental Hygienics is crucial to our health, but it is facing a serious problem in ensuring the safety and health of dentists while providing successful treatment to patients. Modern robotics and automation techniques have been developed and applied to other fields of surgery, but have not yet reached dentistry in any significant capacity. Such techniques could serve to greatly address both of the issues highlighted above. This is why I intend to determine how techniques similar to those already used in surgery could be used to automate some functions of Dental Hygienics, and thereby solve both of the highlighted issues. I will begin my senior project by performing a study of existing robotic devices in similar medical fields, through interviews with designers of said devices, and, if possible, a physical demonstration of their functions and methodologies. From this I hope to gain insight into the robotic medical device industry, and understand what the methods and challenges of the field are. This first stage should take a total of 4 weeks. For the next 6 weeks, I will perform surveys of dentists and patients looking for various insights, such as what aspects of their jobs dental hygienists most want automated, and how receptive patients would be to an automated device performing dental hygiene. I will also travel to dental offices to perform in-person interviews with the same goals of gathering insights. The end goal of my project will be to gather and process this data into a conclusive and quantitative answer to the question of how receptive the field of Dental Hygienics is to robotics-based automation.
Project Blog
Week 0: Introduction
Hi, I’m Daniel Popov and this is my senior project blog. I’ve been at Basis Independent Brooklyn since the 6th grade, and for my Senior Project I will be exploring the viability of robotics based automation in the field of Dental Hygienics. I’ve been interested in robotics and dentistry for most of my life, and have always wanted to apply knowledge of one to benefit the other.
For my placement, I hope to be working with Dr. Farokh Atashzar, head of the robotics department at the New York University, whose main research focuses on medical, surgical, and rehabilitation robotics. I will begin my research by gathering data on existing robotic devices applied to dentistry, which already exist in a variety of forms and functions.
However, the specific field of Dental Hygienics appears to have very limited previous attempts at automation. There are a great number of devices that utilize a robotic arm for various purposes such as dental fillings, and there have been many applications of AI on various imaging techniques to identify plaque and deformations in teeth. The main goal is for me to look into these techniques and see how they can be combined to create a functioning Dental Hygiene device, along with using patient and dentist inputs to my surveys and insights gathered in my interviews, so that I can ensure the device is a useful and beneficial prospect to both patients and dentists.
Thank you for reading and if you’d like to know more, here is my senior project proposal.
Week 1: Update
Hello, and welcome to my Senior Project Blog. This first week marks the beginning of my Senior Project journey, where I have been focused on independent research while I iron out my on-site internship position. My on-site internship at the New York University Robotics Lab has yet to start, so in the meantime I have been researching data on existing robotic devices in dentistry, with the goal of gathering valuable insights that can be applied to my own device.
I have been looking through research articles on the success rates of various methods for robotics based automation to determine which devices I should examine for functionality. Additionally, I have been looking at the mode of function of existing functional devices, trying to find a list of commonly used techniques in the field of robotics based automation in the medical field that I can then evaluate and, as needed, apply to my device.
As I continue to delve deeper into the intricacies of surgical robotics, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 2: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. I have made great progress in the study of surgical robotic devices. First of all, I have examined the methods of operation of the Yomi dental robot, analyzing how it performs the required motions in a confined space with the additional challenge of a moving patient. I have concluded that their methods of operation are not very helpful to my design, as the Yomi dental robot is intended to assist a dentist in their work, rather than perform it independently and automatically. I have also looked into robotic devices that use tendon-like structures to achieve incredibly precise motion. I have yet to determine if these methods of operation have a place in dentistry, as they are bulky and may not fit in the mouth of a patient. Finally, I have examined the ways in which AI and machine learning have been applied to surgical robotics before. I have found that they are primarily used in identifying the problem before the surgery, but also have some applications in the planning of surgery, dictating the path that the robotic arms will take in the surgery itself.
As I continue to delve deeper into the intricacies of surgical robotics, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 3
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I have begun researching effective survey techniques for the purpose of better collecting data from dentists and patients on how receptive they would be to robotic based automation in dental Hygienics. I have explored question phrasing techniques, and found that for my purposes of gathering insights, targeted but open-ended questions are the best form of questioning. In-person interviews especially would be most beneficial for my project, so I will be studying in-person interview techniques next week. I have also learned about effective ways to pick as unbiased and representative a sampling group as possible, so as not to introduce false data into my research. Finally I looked into existing surveys from leading organizations such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. This has given me a lot of valuable insights into proper survey creation techniques, and has furthered the data gathering portion of my project.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 4: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I have been researching effective interview techniques for the purpose of better collecting data from dentists and patients on how receptive they would be to robotic based automation in dental Hygienics. I have explored question phrasing techniques, and found that for my purposes of gathering insights I should start with a simple yes or no question such as “would you be comfortable with a robotic device in your office?” to establish the baseline followed up by open-ended questions to delve deeper into the roots of the interviewee’s opinions on dental robotics. I have also found that one of the more important factors would be to ensure the interviews are isolated, so as to not influence each other’s responses and negatively impact the data collection process. Finally I looked at examples of effective interviews from various different sources, such as professional journals or industry reports. This has given me a lot of valuable insights into proper survey creation techniques, and has furthered the data gathering portion of my project.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 5: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I managed to get an interview with a psychometrics professional, and got some invaluable advice and feedback on my survey and interview questions. The first key piece of advice was to keep in mind possible answers that I am expecting before crafting the interview questions. To create an interview that is focused enough to reach any kind of statistical significance at the smaller sample sizes I will be dealing with, I had to phrase the questions in such a way as to receive as many responses falling into one of my predicted answers as possible. At the same time, I was warned against instilling bias toward one or another answer in the interviewee by staying as neutral as possible in my language. Finally, I learned to separate the interviews into two distinct groups: patient and professional. These two groups have slight variations on the same questions, and are kept separate for the purposes of processing the data after it has been collected.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 6: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I have finalized my surveys and have started collecting data from my on-site, with replies coming in at a rather quick pace. In the end I decided that the best form for my surveys to take is to have only 2 questions. First, would you be ok with a robot doing your cleanings? And second, for what reasons? For the purpose of gathering insights, a lengthier survey would only serve to turn people away, and would not gather much additional information. So far, there is a roughly even split between those who would be willing to have a robot perform their dental cleaning, with a variety of reasons given by those unwilling, ranging from a fear of machines to not being certain about the safety and quality of the work of a robotic device. Some of the reasons provided can be addressed with proper informing of patients, but more data is needed to what percentage that portion makes up.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 7: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I conducted my interviews with doctors Duetch, and have gained valuable insights from them. First, I was informed that AI based automation is already used in their work for planning to some extent, so the idea of robotics based automation in dentistry would not be so jarring a step to make from the perspective of the dentist. Next I questioned the doctors about what part specifically of dental hygienics they would like automated. They suggested that in the ideal world they would ask for the full automation of the cleaning process, with minimal human input required. The main reasons they provided for this were to vastly increase the amount of patients they could treat per day, as well as reduce the amount of time the doctors have to spend performing the motions that are so prone to causing musculoskeletal disorders. I inquired further about said disorders and they told me that they have been lucky enough so far not to have any develop, but that they also take necessary precautions such as mobility exercises for the shoulders and neck.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.
Week 8: Update
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog. This week I have finished gathering surveys, and am compiling them into a spreadsheet for data analysis. The first and most important piece of information I got from my dataset is the average score of the 1-5 scale, as this average number will be crucial towards answering my research question with any kind of quantitative data. Next I organized the short answer responses into categories, so that I can track the frequency of the various responses. This provided me a way to measure which reasons were most often provided for or against the robotic device doing the patient’s cleanings. This lets me discern whether or not the common reasons given against are issues that can be cleared up by properly informing the patients of the robot’s capabilities, or if they are something that can not be changed, like a general fear of machines. Additionally it will allow feedback for what the engineers building the device can improve to get back to them.
As I continue to learn more about data gathering sciences, I remain steadfast in my commitment to innovate and advance the field of robotic dentistry. Stay tuned for further updates on my senior project blog.