VICON ANALYSE ‘SIX DEGREES OF FREEDOM’ IN DENTO-MUNCH TRIALS

Oxford, UK: Vicon, developer of Academy Award®-winning motion capture systems for the entertainment and life science industries, and part of the Oxford Metrics Group, today announced its involvement in the Dento-Munch trials. The revolutionary research is taking place at the University of Bristol, and aims to provide a more realistic way to test materials for use in dentistry.

Dr Kazem Alemzadeh in the bio-engineering research group of the Department of Mechanical Engineering captures the chewing motion with a Vicon MX3 system to test how materials would wear in the mouths of individual people. The temporomandibular joint (TJM), connecting the lower jaw to the temporal bone at the side of the head, is one of the most complex joints in the human body. It has previously proved impossible to track with six degrees of freedom – the ability of the jaw to move smoothly up and down and side to side, allowing us to chew food, talk and yawn – but thanks to the accuracy and detail that is possible with a Vicon system, Alemzadeh and his team have been able achieve this level of precision.

Doug Reinke, CEO at Vicon said: “Dento-Munch is an exciting project and its results will provide very real benefits to dentists and the patients they treat. We’re proud to be involved with such innovative research.”

For further information on the Dento-Munch trials click here

Images courtesy of Kazem Alemzadeh, University of Bristol.