ScienceDOI: 10.3290/j.ijcd.b3762767Pages 1-17, Language: EnglishMönnink, Carolin / Eich, Lukas / Haddadin, Sami / Stiesch, Meike / Grischke, Jasmin
Aim: The aim was to compare the performance of a collaborative tactile robot programmed by a dental professional (DP) with the performance of a DP in removal of surrogate plaque In vitro.Materials and methods: Six teeth of typodonts in articulated jaws were covered with surrogate plaque and cleaned by a DP with help of a manual toothbrush (DP/manual) and an electric toothbrush (DP/electric). The experiment was repeated with the help of a collaborative seven-axis tactile robot programmed by a DP handling a manual toothbrush (robot/manual) and an electric toothbrush (robot/electric). All experiment were repeated five times resulting in a total of N= 30 teeth in each group. Cleaning results were reported as the percentage of surface area with residual plaque.Results: The cleaning results of the robot and the DP showed no significant differences. However, electric toothbrushing was significantly less effective compared to manual toothbrushing (p<0.05).Conclusion: This In vitro study indicates that current robot technology may perform removal of surrogate plaque as efficient as a DP. In future this may be helpful to release nursing staff from this time-demanding and possibly contagious task or support humans with reduced motor skills or impaired vision in performing daily oral hygiene.
Keywords: Dental robots, Dentistry, Dentronic, electric toothbrush, human-machine-interaction, human-robot-interaction, manual toothbrush, Oral hygiene, Robotics
