Use of robots in dental treatment

Future Japanese dentists will feel the pain more easily thanks to the support of a new robot capable of expressing pain when the dentist's drill touches the nerve.

This robot looks like a pretty young woman with long hair and a pink long-sleeved sweater, can hear the dentist's instructions and reacts with pain by eye or hand movements . A group of robot and computer makers introduced this ' patient girl ' at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, which opened Wednesday and lasted four days.

Tatsuo Matsuzaki, an officer at the Kokoro robotics company that develops the body and control system, said the robot was named Simroid designed for clinical practice at dental schools. The 1.6 meter tall Simroid can say ' Oh, hurt ' and grimacingly grinned at the dentist's drill.

" Because Simroid is so real, the dentist will feel the pain of the patient and thereby improve his skills because they will treat it like a real patient, not just a robot." . The key point is that we can share our pain with our patients without having to hurt them.

Yuko Uchida, dentist at the Nippon University Dental Hospital, Japan, illustrates how to work with the Simroid robot (photo: AFP).

Naotake Shibui, a lecturer at Nippon Dental School, who introduced the robot in September, said Simroid could help dentists learn how to understand patients better. He said: 'Treatment is important, but it's more important than the dentist to put himself in the position of the patient.'

"Not only that, Simroid also has a sensor in the chest that can record collisions that should not be in the area."