CROSS-REFERENCE

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/079,348, filed September 16, 2020, which is/are hereby incorporated by reference in its/their entirety herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] The novel features of the disclosure are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present disclosure will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the disclosure are utilized, and the accompanying drawings of which:

[0003] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary flow chart of a system for automated laser-induced analgesia; per an embodiment herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0004] The existing dental treatment apparatuses or systems are unable to achieve automated dental analgesia. The existing apparatuses or systems rely on the dentist or auxiliary injectionbased analgesia (lidocaine, carbocaine etc) or on dentist manual control of a handheld laser. These approaches are time-consuming and consume skilled operator time - increasing costs. Furthermore, injection-based analgesia presents additional risks to the patient. Automated dental treatment systems under development currently require injection -based analgesia, costing the clinic time, or alternatively to use powerful analgesia inducing laser cutters which significantly add to the device’s bill of materials. While multiple kinds of laser have been used for analgesia to date. However an apparatus that combines on-demand topical laser anesthesia with rapid machine controlled drilling is needed. There is thus a need to automate dental analgesia to automate dental workflows.

[0005] In some embodiments, the present disclosure herein includes a robotically controlled laser beam which is run over the tooth in a set pattern so as to fully anesthetize the entire tooth based surgical site. This analgesia can be part of or followed by automated surgical preparation using either a laser or a mechanical dental bur. Unlike existing systems, this process if fully automated as the beam is directed over the tooth surface by a robotically controlled positioning system guided by a 3d surface geometry as well as subsurface tooth anatomical data that can be both extrapolated from an existing data set, or by registering patient-specific radiographic and ultrasonic generated subsurface imaging.

[0006] In some embodiments, the laser wavelength, pulse duration, intensity are determined so as to exert an analgesic effect in preparation for cutting with a mechanical tool. In some embodiments, the laser is not strong enough to ablate the tooth but is strong enough to apply analgesia. In some embodiments, the laser analgesia, cut, laser analgesia cycle maybe repeated a number of times, or may occur concurrently.

Terms and Definitions

[0007] Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0008] As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Any reference to “or” herein is intended to encompass “and/or” unless otherwise stated.

[0009] As used herein, the term “about” in some cases refers to an amount that is approximately the stated amount.

[0010] As used herein, the term “about” refers to an amount thatis near the stated amount by 10%, 5%, or 1%, including increments therein.

[0011] As used herein, the term “about” in reference to a percentage refers to an amount that is greater or less the stated percentage by 10%, 5%, or 1%, including increments therein.

[0012] As used herein, the phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at least one of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B, or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.