A multidisciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania created a shapeshifting robot to do daily tasks of brushing, rinsing, and flossing. The technology aims to help the geriatric population and people with disabilities.
Toothbrushing Robot Components
The microrobots are composed of iron oxide nanoparticles with catalytic and magnetic activity. The researchers used a magnetic field that helped them manipulate the motion and arrangement of the microrobot.
The magnetic field helps the robot create either bristle-like structures that remove dental plaque from the wide surfaces of teeth or long threads that can slide between teeth like dental floss. In both instances, nanoparticles are propelled by a catalytic reaction that releases antimicrobial healing with the harmful oral bacteria in the mouth.
Edward Steager, a senior research investigator in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science and co-corresponding author, said the technology works similar to how a robotic arm may reach out and clean a surface. He added that the system could be programmed to do motion control automatically and the nanoparticle assembly.
According to Hyun (Michel) Koo, a professor in the Department of Orthodontics and divisions of Community Oral Health and Pediatric Dentistry in Penn's School of Dental Medicine and co-corresponding author of the study, the toothbrush design has remained relatively unchanged for millennia. He added that they used a technology that has not been disrupted in decades.
"It doesn't matter if you have straight teeth or misaligned teeth, it will adapt to different surfaces. The system can adjust to all the nooks and crannies in the oral cavity," Koo said.
The experiment conducted using the system showed that the robotic assembly adjusted to a range of shapes to remove the sticky biofilms that cause cavities and gum disease. The researchers used mock and real human teeth for the experiment.
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Oral Hygiene Robot Collaboration Project
Originally Koo and Steager came from a different group of researchers, such as Penn Dental Medicine and Penn Engineering. Both teams are interested in iron oxide nanoparticles.
Penn dental medical wants to know the science behind the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles. On the other hand, Penn Engineering were exploring the nanoparticles as building blocks of microrobots that are controlled magnetically.
The two groups collaborated on the two applications. Penn Health Tech and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research support the project.
The research development started by optimizing the motions of the microrobots on a small slab of tooth-like material.
Daily tested its performance adapting to the complex topography of the tooth surface. It also considered the gumline in the interdental surfaces. Day uses 3D printed shoe models using scanned human teeth from the dental clinic. The final step is the trial of the microrobots and real humans that were installed so that it mimics the position of the teeth in the oral cavity.
The iron oxide nanoparticles used in this experiment have been FDA approved for other uses. The test of the basic formation and animal model revealed that they had no negative effects.
The results of the study can be found in full in the paper titled "Surface Topography-Adaptive Robotic Superstructures for Biofilm Removal and Pathogen Detection on Human Teeth" published in ACS Nano.
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