12/3/2014 Taylor Tucker
Written by Taylor Tucker
MechSE undergraduates Valeria Laguna, Eric Eckstrum, Matthew Mitter, Neil Murray, and John Seo worked with California dentists Marine Martirosyan and Albert Vartanian for their project. The dentists, who sponsored the project and provided the team with dental equipment to use in their research, had ideas for making the practice of dentistry more comfortable and efficient for dentists, and wanted to put their ideas to use.
MechSE professor and Schaller Faculty Scholar Naira Hovakimyan, a longtime friend of Martirosyan, noticed that she wears a back brace when she works and is constantly bending over the patient’s mouth and working at odd angles.
Martirosyan noted that over time, a lot of dentists develop back or other health problems due to the nature of their work. Hovakimyan suggested they present their ideas to engineers, which led them to the U of I.
“I told them that with a good Senior Design project, they could really explore their ideas,” Hovakimyan said.
The five students who took on the project last spring, supervised by MechSE associate professor Kimani Toussaint, had the specific goal of creating a hand-held device to be used for visualizing root canal treatments. Approximately thirty percent of root canals fail, which can cause pain, reinfection, and tooth loss. This is largely due to the limited visibility that dentists have of the surgical site within the patient’s mouth.
The students researched optics and current technology to determine the components they would need for a successful system. Testing of the pulpascope using a test stand they built successfully provided images at three magnification levels. By the end of the project, they had built their prototype using 3D printers.
“We were so excited that it worked and that we were able to show a live image during our presentation,” Laguna said.
Martirosyan, Vartanian, and Toussaint applied for funding from the National Institutes of Health through their Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Small businesses can partner with universities to apply for funding for joint projects that have the potential for commercialization.
Starting next spring, the dentists, Toussaint, and a graduate student will use the award money to continue research and development of the pulpascope. “A considerable amount of money has been allocated for testing the prototype in simulation exercises that are made to replicate real surgical scenarios,” Vartanian said. Additionally, they will work on the development of a functional prototype and its software, as well as machining of parts, equipment for testing, and travel.
It was a long process, but the success of the project has been worth it for all involved. “I look forward to helping make this pulpascope a reality,” Toussaint said.