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Chewing Robot Takes Bite Out of Denture Trouble-Shooting

by Lee Bains on June 30, 2009 at 10:02 AM

Dental technology has made long strides since our first president chewed away at his corn pone and salt pork (or whatever) with his notorious set of wooden (or ivory?) chompers. Since then, dentists have learned to replace God's own teeth with materials ranging from gold to porcelain. Despite those advancements, though, scientists haven't been able to come up with a sure-fire way to reliably and thoroughly test denture designs and materials, save for sticking them in somebody's mouth and watching intently.

Engineers at England's University of Bristol, though, might be changing that, says Wired. The newly produced Dento-Munch promises to be the first mechanism capable of adequately simulating the wear and tear that dentures regularly undergo. In addition to the various doo-dads that enable it to make realistic chewing motions, the Dento-Munch features a saliva-simulator to insure a properly moist mastication. Having been in development for the past couple years, the device will step into the public eye today at London's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. [From: Wired]

Tags: dental, dento-munch, dentures, health, medical, science, teeth

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