Proportional Dental Care Time Allocation for High-Risk Teeth
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dental care systems, such as power toothbrushes, distribute total brushing time uniformly across all teeth without considering individual tooth susceptibility to dental conditions, failing to differentiate between teeth with higher and lower likelihoods of developing issues like pockets or caries.
Innovation Solution
A system that dynamically adjusts the distribution of brushing time based on the likelihood of dental conditions, such as pocket depth, using a controller to allocate more time to susceptible areas and less time to less susceptible areas, allowing for personalized or population-based adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If uniform time distribution is used across all teeth, then the device complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but the dental care effectiveness deteriorates because high-risk teeth do not receive adequate attention
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the brushing time allocation based on the specific risk characteristics of different teeth. Each tooth or dental area is assigned a customized time duration according to its susceptibility to dental conditions, rather than applying a uniform time distribution. This ensures that high-risk areas receive proportionally more attention while low-risk areas receive less, optimizing overall dental care effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the time distribution adaptive and variable rather than static and uniform. The system dynamically adjusts the brushing time for different teeth based on stored susceptibility data, allowing the control strategy to change according to individual user needs. This dynamic allocation enables the system to respond to varying dental risk profiles while maintaining automated operation.
2Productivity
If uniform time distribution is used across all teeth, then the ease of operation is improved, but the productivity of dental care is reduced because time is not optimized for high-risk areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the system to automatically determine and execute the optimal time distribution without requiring user intervention. The control device autonomously accesses stored susceptibility data, calculates the appropriate time allocation for each tooth, and executes the customized brushing regimen. This self-service capability maximizes dental care productivity while maintaining ease of operation, as users simply need to operate the device normally without managing complex time settings.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by utilizing stored susceptibility data about individual teeth to inform and adjust the time distribution strategy. The system continuously references this data during operation to ensure that high-risk teeth receive adequate attention. This feedback mechanism enables the system to optimize productivity by allocating time based on actual dental needs rather than uniform distribution, while keeping the user interface simple.
3Adaptability or versatility
If customized time distribution based on susceptibility data is implemented, then the adaptability of the dental care system is improved, but the device complexity increases due to data storage and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-storing susceptibility data for different teeth before the actual brushing operation. This data, which may have been obtained through previous dental examinations or assessments, is saved in the control device's memory in advance. During the brushing operation, the system simply retrieves and applies this pre-processed information to determine time distribution, rather than performing complex real-time analysis. This approach enables high adaptability while minimizing the computational complexity during operation.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
In the context of dental care, a system (100) is provided which comprises i) an appliance (110) that is configured to operate a functional unit, ii) a data providing arrangement (120) that is configured to include operation data in the form of respective combinations of a mouth area and an effective time duration of a dental care action for the area concerned, wherein the effective time durations of the respective combinations add up to a total operation time of a dental care procedure and have respective values according to a proportional division of the total operation time on the basis of a distribution of the extent to which dental care is needed at the areas of the respective combinations, and iii) a controller (130) that is configured to communicate with the data providing arrangement (120) and to control operation of the appliance (110) in accordance with the operation data.