When examining a patient’s teeth, especially when carrying out surgical treatment, dentists often find it difficult to keep the patient’s mouth open for a long time, while the mouth opener available is of limited function. This often causes dentists to experience fatigue and stress. In fact, the results of a study published in the International Journal of Occupational Hygiene (2012) revealed that 63-93% of dentists around the world experience muscle and bone disorders due to this tiring work.
Concerned by this problem, three UGM students, Nabila Amini from the Faculty of Dentistry together with Bayu Hidayat and Alwan Muhammad Risqi from the Faculty of Engineering, collaborated to create a mouth opener to facilitate dentist work.
Through a grant from the Student Creativity Program (PKM), they developed a mouth opener that is easily adjusted in width and height and integrated with a camera to make it easier for doctors and patients to see the oral cavity on a screen. “Hopefully this tool will support dental services in clinics and facilitate learning at universities,” said Nabila in a release on Monday (24/6).
Even though it is only the initial development, Nabila said the results of their innovation will continue to be developed to a higher quality. “We are aware that this tool still has shortcomings in its manufacture. For that we will continue to refine it so that it can be mass produced and contribute to improving the quality of dentistry services in Indonesia,” said Nabila.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18010-inovasi-alat-pembuka-mulut-karya-mahasiswa-ugm
