For those who have dental problems that require treatment a dental drill may need to be used. However, some people have fear of a dental drill and going to the dentist. This may cause some people to not visit the dentist due to fear even though they clearly require treatment.
In an effort to help curb those who may suffer from dental fear, technology has recently been developed that will cancel out the noise of a dental drill. One would plug a device into their MP3 player and then plug their headphones into this MP3 player. The technology uses adaptive filtering where electronic filters lock onto sound waves and removes those particular sound waves causing their sound to not be heard. The dentist and dental team can still talk to the person having treatment.
The technology was initially conceived of an idea by Brian Millar at King’s College London. Currently investors are needed to make the device a reality in dental offices.
Personally I think there is a lot more to dental fear than the sound of a dental drill such as what one sees during the visit. This could potentially be useful to some people though.
Source: King’s College London
Great news!!! That’s gonna be very helpful not only for the patients but for the dentists as well.
This is a very nice advancement. Even for people with no dental fear, the noise of the drill can be very unpleasant, and for people with hyperacusis or other neuro-sensory problems, it can be excruciating. Eliminating that sound will eliminate one more reason people avoid or procrastinate visiting the dentist.
Personally I think there is a lot more to dental fear than the sound of a dental drill such as what one sees during the visit. This could potentially be useful to some people though.