Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

This Tooth-Repair Robot Smaller Than a Wine Cork Could End Multiple Dentist Visits Forever. Here's How

A visit to the dentist for a damaged tooth can often turn into a long process involving multiple appointments, temporary solutions, and waiting periods. However, a new breakthrough in medical robotics could change the way dental treatments are performed. Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a miniature dental robot that may one day prepare teeth for crowns automatically, making dental procedures faster, more precise, and more convenient for patients.

The small robotic system, known as MIR (Miniature Intraoral Robot), is designed to fit inside a patient’s mouth and assist dentists in preparing teeth according to a digital treatment plan. Although still in the research stage, this technology could reduce the number of visits required for crown treatments and improve accuracy compared with traditional methods.

The Challenge of Traditional Crown Treatment

When a tooth has severe decay or damage, a dental crown is often needed to restore its shape, strength, and function. Currently, the process usually requires several appointments.

During the first visit, the dentist removes the damaged part of the tooth, reshapes it to make space for the crown, takes an impression or digital scan, and places a temporary crown. The information is then sent to create a permanent crown, which is fitted during a later appointment.

While this method has been effective for years, it takes time and requires patients to return multiple times. Researchers believe robotic technology could simplify this process by combining digital planning, automated tooth preparation, and faster crown production.

A Robot Small Enough to Work Inside the Mouth

The MIR robot developed by researchers at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Basel is extremely compact. The prototype measures only about 43 × 26 × 28 millimeters, making it roughly the size of a small wine cork.

Its compact design allows it to fit comfortably inside an open mouth. Unlike traditional large robotic systems, MIR is specially created for delicate medical procedures where space is extremely limited.

The robot itself contains the small working mechanism, while its motors and control systems remain outside the mouth. Flexible drive shafts, cables, and tubes connect the external system to the miniature robot, allowing precise movement while keeping the device small.

Dr. Yukiko Tomooka, the first author of the research paper published in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, explained that the goal was to create a robot that could safely operate within the limited space of the human mouth.

How the Dental Robot Works

The idea behind MIR is to make dental crown preparation more efficient. Instead of manually shaping the tooth during treatment, dentists could first perform a digital scan of the patient’s tooth. Using this scan, they could create a detailed plan showing exactly how much material needs to be removed.

The digital information would guide the robot during the procedure. The same scan could also be used to design a custom dental splint that attaches the robot securely to the patient’s mouth.

One important advantage is that the robot moves together with the patient. Even if the patient slightly moves their head, the robot remains aligned with the treatment area because it is connected through the customized support system.

This could make dental procedures more predictable and reduce the risk of mistakes caused by movement.

Testing Shows Impressive Precision

To test the robot’s abilities, researchers used artificial tooth models made from synthetic resin and ceramic materials designed to have hardness similar to natural tooth enamel.

The robot prepares the tooth in two main stages.

First, a wider drill removes material from the top surface of the tooth, creating the basic shape needed for the crown. Then, a thinner and longer drill works on the sides to achieve the final shape and details.

The results were promising. Even without advanced sensors that can directly measure its position, the robot achieved extremely high precision. During experiments, its positioning error was less than 0.2 millimeters.

Researchers believe this accuracy could improve even further once additional sensors are added to the system.

Measuring Safety and Patient Comfort

Precision is not the only factor important for dental robots. Researchers are also studying the forces created during drilling to ensure the system is safe for real patients.

During testing, the forces produced by MIR remained below 5 newtons. This is approximately similar to the force created by the weight of a half-liter bottle of water.

The team is also examining the noise produced by the robotic drilling system because patient comfort is an important factor in dental treatment. A successful dental robot must not only be accurate but also practical and comfortable for everyday use.

The Next Generation of Robotic Dentistry

Although MIR shows great potential, more development is needed before it can enter dental clinics. The next step for researchers is to integrate advanced sensors and a camera into the robot.

These additions would allow the system to monitor its exact position and track the progress of the treatment in real time. The robot would be able to understand where it is inside the mouth and continue accurately even after unexpected interruptions, such as a power failure.

Professor Georg Rauter, who leads the research group, explained that sensor information would allow MIR to know its location and continue the procedure safely without increasing the robot’s size.

Keeping the robot small is one of the biggest challenges because the human mouth provides very limited working space.

A New Era for Dental Care

The development of MIR represents a major step toward the future of automated and personalized dentistry. Instead of relying only on manual procedures, dentists may soon use intelligent robotic systems to perform highly precise treatments.

This does not mean robots will replace dentists. Instead, these technologies are designed to support dental professionals by improving accuracy, reducing treatment time, and making procedures more comfortable for patients.

The project is a collaboration between the University of Basel, the Center for Dentistry at the University of Zurich, Camlog Biotechnologies GmbH, and the University of Bern. Together, researchers and medical experts are working toward a future where advanced robotics can make dental care faster, safer, and more efficient.

A tiny robot that fits inside the mouth may seem like a small invention, but it could represent a giant leap toward the future of modern dentistry.

Reference: Yukiko Tomooka et al, Miniature Intraoral Robot (MIR) for Minimally Invasive Tooth Preparation, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (2026). DOI: 10.1109/tmrb.2026.3682629

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Planetary Movements Might Explain Sunspot Cycles and Solar Phenomena

Sunspots, dark patches on the Sun's surface, follow a cycle of increasing and decreasing activity every 11 years. For years, scientists have relied on the dynamo model to explain this cycle. According to this model, the Sun's magnetic field is generated by the movement of plasma and the Sun's rotation. However, this model does not fully explain why the sunspot cycle is sometimes unpredictable. Lauri Jetsu, a researcher, has proposed a new approach. Jetsu’s analysis, using a method called the Discrete Chi-square Method (DCM), suggests that planetary movements, especially those of Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury, play a key role in driving the sunspot cycle. His theory focuses on Flux Transfer Events (FTEs), where the magnetic fields of these planets interact with the Sun’s magnetic field. These interactions could create the sunspots and explain other solar phenomena like the Sun’s magnetic polarity reversing every 11 years. The Sun, our closest star, has been a subject of scient...
Post a Comment
Read more