New Specialized Online Courses Available For Dental Professionals Through The Ccnmt

By Author: Karen McDonagh
Total Articles: 75
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Last fall, new units were launched for both MATCH and PASS. For MATCH, a new program designed to teach dental professionals how to properly communicate with children, specifically children with speech and comprehension abilities was launched. Dentists and oral hygienists can be trained by a language pathologist to learn a sort of specialized bedside manner, designed to better prepare dental health professionals for easing the anxieties of young patients, and especially those who have trouble expressing those feelings or communicating in general what it is they require of a dental checkup. As we all know, dentist appointments can be stressful for even the most healthy and well adjusted child patients, but this new course could ease a lot of the issues in regards to the kind of invasiveness both conducive to stress at the dental clinic and necessary for a dental professional to do their job.

Furthermore, the program educates dentists in paediatric oral care, training students to identify and diagnose oral health ailments specifically prevalent among the young, such as oral health problems brought on by extended usage of ...
... a pacifier. Dentists are already trained to deal with issues like this through surgery, but training in paediatric dental pathology will be able to address many of these issues with therapy - much less invasive than previously accepted methods.

For children with speech impediments, treatment like this could be necessary even alongside surgery, in order to treat the psychological aspect of any given speech problem.

In Japan, robotics is a longstanding cultural and technological mainstay. Whether as a novelty of consumer goods or a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, Japan's robotics sector has led the way in one form or another for decades. Now Dr. Naotake Shibui of the Nippon Dental University in Tokyo with the help of Kokoro Co., a local robotics firm, have developed Simroid (simulator humanoid, of course.)

Simroid is a robot designed to teach oral health professionals in dental courses across the world to be better at making their patients comfortable during dental procedures. On the outset, Simroid looks like a Japanese woman in a bright pink sweater. She is in a reclined position on a dentist's chair with her mouth agape. Underneath her skin, Simroid is a complex simulator with touch sensitive points riddling her "mouth" that act as simulated pain receptors. Whenever a dental student is too rough or pokes something they shouldn't with a tool, Simroid reacts appropriately with outcries like "ow!" And "that really hurts!"

The robot made a huge viral splash five years ago when it was unveiled. People reacted with curiosity, and more than a little shock and horror. Simroid looks disturbingly human and has a tendency to trigger what's called "the uncanny valley."

Karen McDonagh is a proud contributing author and write articles on several subjects including Dental Education. For more information please click and see Technical Education in Dentistry .