Dental News - The first mobile monitoring solution in orthodontics

Marc Chalupsky, DTI

Tue. 26. July 2016

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Last year, French-based company Dental Monitoring introduced a mobile solution for remotely monitoring orthodontic treatment. Using photographs captured with a smartphone, a unique predictive algorithm and machine learning, the system analyses and matches initial dental impressions to photographs taken by the patient to create a 3-D model of tooth movement. Dental Tribune Online spoke to CEO of Dental Monitoring Philippe Salah about the value of data in dentistry and the next step in digital orthodontics.

Dental Tribune Online: Mr Salah, Dental Monitoring offers a remote solution for complete control of orthodontic treatment. How does your technology work?
Philippe Salah: Dental Monitoring is a cloud-based system allowing for ongoing communication between patients, their dentists and our orthodontic team of experts. The dentist can remotely control the treatment of his or her patient by monitoring every tooth movement precisely and continually outside of the practice. The smartphone app allows practitioners to remotely follow up on the pre-treatment, control the progress of the treatment and the stability of the retention period, follow up on the pre-treatment and so on. There are many clinical situations that can be monitored. Patients receive specific notifications and advice from their dentists, while practitioners can easily share input and talk to other professionals and our expert team.

The process is very simple. Dentists take a physical or digital impression of the teeth, which Dental Monitoring then uses to define the baseline tooth position. After the patient has taken his or her photographs using the Dental Monitoring app, the unique algorithm in combination with our orthodontic team will analyse the results. The practitioner will then obtain a complete evaluation of the treatment progress based on graphs, photographs and our 3-D matching technology. Our team trains orthodontists within 2 hours, during which time every button on the app and online dashboard will be explained, although the interface is easy to understand for everyone.

Dental Monitoring is very easy for patients to use too. All that is needed is an Android or iOS smartphone. The patient takes ten photographs every two weeks. This allows the clinic to obtain information concerning his or her orthodontic treatment or overall oral hygiene and to contact the patient if any adjustments are necessary. Patients need fewer visits to their orthodontist and benefit from optimised treatment time and perfectly aligned teeth.

Why is it necessary to monitor orthodontic treatment?
In general medicine, patients are already monitored by their doctors through things like a diabetes test, blood pressure measurement, everything that involves a change in the body. Orthodontic treatment as a changing condition of the teeth has to be monitored as well. The market for monitoring devices in medicine is growing rapidly owing to the easy accumulation of data, and in today’s society, working with data has become key to success. That is why Dental Monitoring collects data; we want our patients and orthodontists to experience the best clinical results.

A survey has found that 87 per cent of patients using the connected health model to share information with their doctors found their treatment to be more rewarding and rated their doctors’ performance higher than conventional follow-up. Many of our clients are in favour or participatory medical products. In the past, doctors approached their patients in a rather authoritarian manner, with few tools available to collaborate with them. Now, the approach is more participatory. Dental Monitoring is helping change the clinical method of orthodontic follow-up. In the past, we adjusted orthodontic appliances according to pre-established protocols and treatment plans. Now, orthodontists can check the alignment remotely and adjust the treatment plan in real time to reach their objectives in optimal conditions.

Dental Monitoring essentially integrates dentists’ clinical expertise, patients’ needs and the most relevant clinical evidence to allow its users to experience evidence-based dentistry on an individual level. Evidence-based dentistry has been favoured in our industry for many years now. Dentists want to make qualified decisions based on clinical evidence and studies. Through Dental Monitoring, millions of photographs, as well as clinical evidence, have been collected from more than 2,000 cases. In future, we will be providing a state-of-the-art database for orthodontists with clinical cases, reports and images. As we measure every tooth every two weeks over the entire treatment period, this gives us exact documentation and valuable clinical data.

Dental Monitoring appears to be time-saving for patients and dentists, but can the technology truly predict tooth movement precisely?
Precision was the most important factor considered when we developed the technology. Measurements are precise to within 0.05 mm for anterior teeth and to within 0.07 mm in posterior teeth. Our system does not recreate the current anatomy of the teeth; instead, the algorithm moves the pre-existing anatomy. We can identify changes to the form of the dentition by comparing the initial and current stages. However, we know that even the most advanced software cannot replace the expertise of a doctor. That is why the data is clinically validated by our in-house orthodontic team of five experts. Dental Monitoring can alert them in case of any unexpected movement so that it can be resolved before it becomes a problem. The software informs us when there are changes to the anatomy of the teeth, but it cannot always tell us if there is reason for concern. For example, interproximal reduction may be required, which should not worry dentists. With Dental Monitoring, we have an excellent orthodontic team that checks those alerts and edits the notification as necessary and appropriate.

Where can orthodontists buy Dental Monitoring?
Dental Monitoring is currently available in 18 countries in Europe, as well as Australia, the US and Japan. Most orthodontists can buy it either directly or through our dealers. We only sell in those countries where we speak the language. This is very important to us, as our in-house orthodontic experts need to communicate with clinical staff on a daily basis. Our rates are based on the frequency of the clinical analysis and the number of patients involved. Download of the patient app is free. As we continue to grow, we will add more countries. We have over 1,300 clients already.

What technological advancement can we expect in the future?
Our Dental Monitoring research and development department is continuously adding new features. The application could be used for cosmetic purposes, implant stability control and surgery too. This is something we intend to work on in future. For now, we want to focus on orthodontics to help improve orthodontic treatment around the world. Next year will see the launch of new tools for dental treatment and other software updates to increase precision, predictability and convenience for both patients and orthodontists.

Thank you very much for the interview.

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