Smartphone set-up allows orthodontists to treat patients remotely

The Dental Monitoring system allows for patients to perform a scan of their teeth from home, and uses AI algorithms to analyse the images

Spotted: After a patient has had work done on their teeth, they usually have to return to the clinic for follow-up visits. A Paris-based company, Dental Monitoring, has developed a smartphone-based setup that allows patients to have their teeth checked in one minute, without having to physically make the trip to the clinic.

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The system, known as Dental Monitoring, contains two pieces of hardware that patients take home with them: a dental retractor and the ScanBox that holds the smartphone. To perform a scan, the patient first has to place the retractor into their mouth and then insert their phone into the ScanBox, which magnetically attaches to the retractor. An app provides guided audio cues for how the patient should move the ScanBox, which takes a series of photos of their teeth as they move it back and forth.

The photos are automatically sorted, cropped, and organised by date and angulation and stored. They are then analysed by an artificial intelligence-based algorithm and the orthodontist is notified if any problems are detected so that they can set up a follow-up appointment.

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