Dental News - Technology may help clinicians “see” a patient’s real-time pain

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 4. July 2019

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ANN ARBOR, Mich., U.S.: Management of a patient’s pain during even the simplest of procedures can be difficult. In a development that may one day simplify the task, a team of scientists from the University of Michigan (UM) have created a technology to help clinicians “see” and map patient pain in real time, through special augmented reality glasses. Although it is still some years away from being integrated into dental offices, the researchers believe the technology is a good first step in the advancement of pain management technology.

“It’s very hard for us to measure and express our pain, including its expectation and associated anxiety,” said Dr. Alex DaSilva, associate professor at the UM School of Dentistry and Director of the Headache and Orofacial Pain Effort Laboratory.

A portable clinical augmented reality and artificial intelligence (CLARAi) platform combines visualization with brain data using neuroimaging to navigate through a patient’s brain while in the chair. The technology was tested on 21 volunteer dental patients, and the researchers hope to include other types of pain and different conditions in the future.

Patients wore caps fitted with sensors to detect changes to blood flow and oxygenation. Their reaction to cold when applied to their teeth was then measured. While seated in the dental chair, patients wore augmented reality glasses that allowed the researchers to view the subject’s brain activity in real time on a reconstructed brain template. According to the researchers, they used brain pain data to develop algorithms that, when coupled with new software and neuroimaging hardware, predicted pain or the absence of it about 70% of the time.

With CLARAi, practitioners could begin to understand a patient’s pain better while still remaining focused on the procedure at hand. “Right now, we have a one to ten rating system, but that’s far from a reliable and objective pain measurement,” noted DaSilva.

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