 |
Dentists may soon be able to utilize technology in a way that many likely thought was impossible.
A group of Melbourne University researchers are utilizing high-speed Internet connections to experiment with looking into a patient’s mouth via the Internet. If successful, this would obviously provide the opportunity for people in remote areas to receive necessary dental care without traveling far distances.
The dental examinations are done with high-resolution video. A dental assistant utilizes a wand-like camera to stream the video from inside the patient’s mouth to a computer, all in real time.
There’s a second feed that allows the dentist to speak the assistant. X-rays and medical files can be transmitted as well.
The technology will continue to be tested to see if it’s practical to put it in place in Australia.
This can be done thanks to the Broadband-Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne because it has Internet speeds of 100 MB per second. A slower-speed Internet connection would not be capable of this type of procedure.
