Robots are helping with dental surgeries in some South Florida dental offices, and a company based in Miami created a new robotic dental assistant that’s taking much of the guesswork out of those dental implants.<\/p>\n
Jorge Curebelo was expecting to get two dental implants, but he didn’t know that robots would be doing the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n
“It’s the newest technology,” he said in an interview translated from Spanish to English. “I’m excited about that.”<\/p>\n
“What’s she’s doing right now is she’s putting on this link to attach the patient to the robot, so the robot knows where the patient is,” Dr. Reinol Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez’s office is using Yomi<\/a>, which is more than a steady hand.<\/p>\n It’s a robot that can map out a treatment plan in minutes with some basic X-rays. The company behind it is Neocis<\/a>, and it’s based in Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company says Yomi robots are the only of its kind to have FDA approval.<\/p>\n Gonzalez says it’s more precise and takes less time to do implants this way.<\/p>\n “The healing time is a lot less and really there’s no pain involved,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t have to open him up and cut the gums the way I would normally do.”<\/p>\n He uploads the X-rays in Yomi, and it helps him line up where the implants will go.<\/p>\n “I’m gonna move this X-ray over here,” Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n So when the patient is numb and it’s time to bore a hole, the machine knows where to go. And it knows how deep to drill.<\/p>\n Like any good assistant, it’s ready when it hears its name.<\/p>\n “The depth that I planned,” Gonzalez said. “It doesn’t let me go any further. It stops me right there.”<\/p>\n Curebelo got a little nervous once he saw the robot with a drill. But he said that fear went away quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I was a bit nervous because it’s my first experience,” he said. “I felt nothing I felt great. The doctor’s hands were really good and the equipment for the job was wonderful.”<\/p>\n Gonzalez said this Yomi robot is just for implants for now, but he said it could be used for other services like crowns and fillings in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, Neocis said 25 doctors in Florida use the Yomi robot and 16 of them are here in South Florida<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n