JP7094750B2 - Dental aids and dental aid systems - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a dental assist device for assisting a medical examination, treatment, operation, etc. in dentistry or oral surgery, and a system including a control means for controlling the dental assist device.

In the treatment of dental caries and implant treatment performed by dentists, a specialized dental assistant (dental hygienist) cleans and sets the treatment equipment, operates the saliva excretion device (so-called vacuum), irradiates the treatment site with light, etc. We are engaged in various auxiliary work such as kneading impression material cement. Conventionally, various auxiliary instruments for supporting such dental treatment have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In recent years, the ratio of job openings to applicants for dental hygienists has been increasing, and the chronic shortage of human resources has continued. There is a need for it.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-505149 Special Table 2016-523571A

By the way, since the dentist directly palpates the inside of the patient's mouth, it is not desirable from the viewpoint of hygiene to directly touch anything other than the cleaned and sterilized treatment equipment during the treatment. Therefore, it is preferable that the system responsible for the dental assist work is a fully automated robot that does not require the operation of a doctor, or a highly functional assisting instrument with high operability.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a system capable of efficiently assisting or supporting the medical treatment of a doctor in place of a dental assistant in the medical treatment / operation of dentistry or oral surgery. The purpose is.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a dental aid provided with an opening means for keeping the patient's oral cavity widely open for dental treatment, and the oral cavity in which the dental aid is set is set. It is a dental aid in which the opening means can be controlled in a state where the oral cavity is widely expanded by a predetermined force at a position and a state in which the force is released.

In the dental aid having the above configuration, the opening means includes a retractor portion that expands the corner of the mouth on the treatment site side of the patient, and a blade portion that presses the patient's tongue on the side opposite to the treatment site. Is preferable.

Further, in the dental assisting tool having the above configuration, the first arm portion in which the opening means extends in the horizontal axis X direction orthogonal to the insertion direction Z of the dental assisting tool into the oral cavity and the end of the first arm portion. It is preferable that the second arm portion is provided in the direction of the vertical axis Z1 which is connected to the insertion direction Z and is parallel to the insertion direction Z, and the blade portion is provided at the tip end portion of the second arm portion.

Further, it is preferable that the dental assist device having the above configuration includes an actuator that determines the pushing position of the blade portion on the tongue of the patient by driving the first arm portion in the horizontal axis X direction.

Further, in the dental assist tool having the above configuration, it is preferable that the second arm portion is rotatably attached to the first arm portion with some play around the horizontal axis X. ..

Further, in the dental assist tool having the above configuration, it is preferable that the blade portion is rotatably attached to the second arm portion with some play around the vertical axis Z1.

Further, in the dental aid having the above configuration, the liquid absorbing nozzle has a tube body extending in the insertion direction Z, and the tube body can be rotated and controlled around the axis in the insertion direction Z, and the tube is formed. It is preferable to further include a liquid absorbing nozzle in which the body can be flexed and controlled in at least one direction.

Further, the present invention is a dental assist system including a dental assist tool having the above configuration and a control device electrically connected to the dental assist tool to control at least the opening means. Further, the dental assist system may include a dental assist tool having the above configuration and a control device that is electrically connected to the dental assist tool and controls at least the liquid absorbing nozzle.

According to the present invention, in the medical treatment / operation of dentistry or oral surgery, it is possible to efficiently assist or support the medical treatment of a doctor in place of a dental assistant.

It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the dental assist system. It is an external perspective view of a dental aid. It is a top view for demonstrating the composition of a dental aid. It is a top view for demonstrating the operation of the opening means of a dental aid. It is a top view for demonstrating the structure of the liquid absorption nozzle of a dental aid. It is a top view for demonstrating the operation of the liquid absorption nozzle of a dental aid. It is a top view for further explaining the operation of the liquid absorption nozzle of a dental aid. It is a functional block diagram of a dental assist system. It is a perspective view which shows the use example of a dental aid.

Hereinafter, the dental assist system 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the dental assist system 1 includes an arm-type robot 3 having an articulated arm manipulator 2 and a dental assist tool 10 suspended from the arm manipulator 2 via a flexible wire 4. First, the configuration of the dental aid 10 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the dental aid 10, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the dental aid 10. The dental aid 10 is provided with an opening means capable of keeping the patient's oral cavity widely open for the patient's dental treatment. More specifically, the opening means is to hold the retractor portion 20 that expands the mouth corner portion (the portion where the upper lip and the lower lip are connected) C on the treatment site side of the patient and the tongue T of the patient to the side opposite to the treatment site. It is provided with a blade portion 30 so as not to interfere with the treatment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the retractor portion 20 has a form including a bifurcated upper limb portion 21 and a lower limb portion 22. However, the retractor portion is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 2 as long as the patient's mouth corner portion C can be effectively expanded outward.

The blade portion 30 preferably has a flat plate shape as shown in FIG. 2, but may have a shape such as a spoon shape as long as it effectively holds the patient's tongue.

The retractor portion 20 and the blade portion 30 are attached to the substrate 12 so as to be movable and controllable so as to be close to each other (when the restraint is released) and separated from each other (when the open state is maintained). This opening means will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. On the left and right sides of the substrate 12, an arm portion 14a extending in the horizontal axis X (+) direction orthogonal to the insertion direction Z of the dental aid 10 into the oral cavity and an arm extending in the opposite horizontal axis X (-) direction. A portion 15a is provided. An arm portion 14b that bends forward from the arm portion 14a and extends in the vertical axis Z1 direction parallel to the insertion direction Z is connected to the end of the arm portion 14a, and a blade portion 30 is provided at the tip portion of the arm portion 14b. Has been done. On the other hand, at the end of the arm portion 15a, an arm portion 15b that bends forward from the arm portion 15a and extends in the vertical axis Z2 direction parallel to the insertion direction Z is connected, and a retractor portion is connected to the tip portion of the arm portion 15b. 20 is provided.

It is preferable that the retractor portion 20 and the blade portion 30 are detachably attached to the arm portion 15b and the arm portion 14b so that they can be exchanged for each patient.

As shown in FIG. 4, the substrate 12 is provided with an actuator 16 that reciprocates the arm portion 14a in the horizontal axis X direction to determine the pushing position of the blade portion 30 to the patient's tongue T. Further, the substrate 12 is provided with an actuator 17 that reciprocates the arm portion 15a in the horizontal axis X direction to determine the pushing position of the retractor portion 20 to the patient's mouth corner portion C. The actuators 16 and 17 may have a common function in one actuator as long as the retractor portion 20 and the blade portion 30 are moved in the directions of approaching and separating from each other. In the substrate 12, a position sensor 16a for detecting the position of the arm portion 14a (that is, the position of the blade portion 30), a position sensor 17a for detecting the position of the arm portion 15a (that is, the position of the retractor portion 20), and a blade. It has a built-in force sensor 16b that acts on the portion 30 and detects the reaction force transmitted to the arm portion 14a, and a force sensor 17b that acts on the retractor portion 20 and detects the reaction force transmitted to the arm portion 15a.

It is preferable that the arm portion 14b to which the blade portion 30 is connected is rotatably attached to the arm portion 14a with some play around the horizontal axis X. Further, it is preferable that the blade portion 30 is rotatably attached to the arm portion 14b with some play around the vertical axis Z1.

Similarly, the arm portion 15b to which the retractor portion 20 is connected is preferably rotatably attached to the arm portion 15a with some play around the horizontal axis X, and further, the retractor portion. It is preferable that the 20 is rotatably attached to the arm portion 15b with some play around the vertical axis Z2.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, a liquid suction nozzle 40 that sucks and removes saliva accumulated in the patient's mouth is provided at the center of the base 12 so as to extend in the Z direction. The tube body 41, which is the main body of the liquid absorbing nozzle 40, can be rotated and controlled around the axis in the direction Z by the actuator 18 built in the gripping operation unit 13, and has at least one direction (the liquid absorbing port 42). Bending control is possible on the side). Further, the liquid absorbing nozzle 40 (tube body 41) can be expanded and contracted even in the Z direction (see FIGS. 6 and 7).

With the tube body 41 having such a configuration, the liquid suction nozzle 40 can bend the tip of the nozzle at an arbitrary position where saliva collects in the patient's oral cavity and eliminate the saliva collected there. It is preferable that the liquid absorbing nozzle 40 is detachably attached to the substrate 12 so that it can be replaced for each patient.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dental aid 10 is attached to the tip of the arm manipulator 2 of the arm-type robot 3. Further, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 8, the arm-shaped robot 3 has a built-in control device 50 including a manipulator control unit 51, a dental assist device control unit 52, an AI image recognition unit 53, and the like. The operation of the dental aid 10 is controlled by the dental aid control unit 52 of the control device 50 electrically connected via the cables (communication control cable and power cable) 5 in the arm manipulator 2. Further, a camera 60 is mounted on the tip of the arm manipulator 2 or the like. The camera 60 may be fixed to, for example, a dental clinic chair, may be provided on the dental aid 10, or may be attached to the doctor's head so as to follow the doctor's line of sight.

Next, the operation of the dental assist system 1 having the above configuration will be described. First, the image taken by the camera 60 is taken into the control device 50, and the AI image recognition unit 53 analyzes the image to recognize the position of the patient's mouth and the treatment status. For example, the manipulator control unit 51 can control the arm manipulator 2 to move the dental aid 10 to a position close to the position of the patient's mouth recognized by the AI image recognition unit 53.

The dentist pulls down the dental aid 10 from the tip of the arm manipulator 2 and sets it in the patient's mouth. When the dentist turns on a switch (not shown) provided on the gripping operation unit 13, the actuators 16 and 17 are activated, and the retractor unit 20 and the blade unit 30 move in a direction away from each other. When the force sensor 16b or 17b detects a reaction force equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the actuators 16 and 17 automatically stop at that position. As a result, the corner portion C of the mouth on the treatment site side of the patient is expanded by the retractor portion 20, and the side portion of the tongue T on the opposite side is pressed by the blade portion 30 (see FIG. 9). The AI image recognition unit 53 may recognize the condition of the patient's mouth from the image of the camera 60, and the dental aid control unit 52 may automatically activate the opening means.

Further, by turning off the switch (not shown) provided on the gripping operation unit 13 by the dentist, the outputs of the actuators 16 and 17 can be released, and the restraint of the patient by the dental aid 10 can be released. When the AI image recognition unit 53 recognizes that the medical treatment is interrupted from the condition of the image taken by the camera 60, or when it is determined that the restrained state by the dental aid 10 is painful. , The dental aid control unit 52 may automatically release the outputs of the actuators 16 and 17.

Further, the dental aid control unit 52 may control the saliva suction nozzle 40 at the position where the saliva is accumulated, which is recognized by the AI image recognition unit 53 based on the image of the camera 60, and automatically remove the saliva. ..

1 Dental assist system 2 Arm manipulator 3 Arm robot 4 Flexible wire 5 Cable 10 Dental aid 11 Opening means 12 Base 13 Grip operation part 14a, 14b Arm part 15a, 15b Arm part 16, 17 Actuator 16a, 17a Position sensor 16b, 17b Force sensor 18 Actuator 20 Retractor 21 Upper limb 22 Lower limb 30 Blade 40 Liquid suction nozzle 41 Tube body 42 Liquid suction port 50 Control device 51 Manipulator control unit 52 Dental aid control unit 53 AI image recognition unit 60 Camera

Claims (6)

It is a dental aid equipped with an opening means for keeping the patient's oral cavity widely open for dental treatment, and the oral cavity is widely expanded with a predetermined force at the position in the mouth where the dental aid is set. The opening means can be controlled in a state where the force is released and a state in which the force is released .
The opening means includes a retractor portion that expands the corner of the mouth on the side of the patient's treatment site, and a blade portion that presses the patient's tongue on the side opposite to the treatment site.
The opening means is connected to the end of the first arm portion and is parallel to the insertion direction Z with the first arm portion extending in the horizontal axis X direction orthogonal to the insertion direction Z of the dental aid into the oral cavity. A second arm portion extending in the vertical axis Z1 direction is provided, and the blade portion is provided at the tip portion of the second arm portion .
A dental aid comprising an actuator that determines a position where the blade portion is pushed against the patient's tongue by driving the first arm portion in the horizontal axis X direction . The dental assist device according to claim 1 , wherein the second arm portion is rotatably attached to the first arm portion with some play about the horizontal axis X. The dental aid according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the blade portion is rotatably attached to the second arm portion with some play around the vertical axis Z1. It is a dental aid equipped with an opening means for keeping the patient's oral cavity widely open for dental treatment, and the oral cavity is widely expanded with a predetermined force at the position in the mouth where the dental aid is set. The opening means can be controlled in a state where the force is released and a state in which the force is released.
The opening means includes a retractor portion that expands the corner of the mouth on the side of the patient's treatment site, and a blade portion that presses the patient's tongue on the side opposite to the treatment site.
The opening means is connected to the end of the first arm portion and is parallel to the insertion direction Z with the first arm portion extending in the horizontal axis X direction orthogonal to the insertion direction Z of the dental aid into the oral cavity. A second arm portion extending in the vertical axis Z1 direction is provided, and the blade portion is provided at the tip portion of the second arm portion.
A liquid absorbing nozzle having a tube body extending in the insertion direction Z, wherein the tube body can be rotated and controlled around the axis of the insertion direction Z, and the tube body can be bent and controlled in at least one direction. A dental aid that is further equipped with a liquid absorbing nozzle. A dental assist system comprising the dental assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and a control device that is electrically connected to the dental assist device and controls at least the opening means. A dental assist system comprising the dental assist device according to claim 4 and a control device that is electrically connected to the dental assist device and controls at least the liquid absorbing nozzle.

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