Dentistry simulation android is all smiles

“Aspiring Japanese dentists can now look forward to honing their skills with a robotic simulator, where mistakes won’t have serious consequences. “Developers at Showa University and robot maker Tmsuk say Hanako Showa, designed to look just like a 5-foot-tall Japanese woman, is the first of her kind in the world.”The robot moves, expresses pain, and will even retch if her uvula is touched, giving trainee dentists a taste of working with a real patient, “with a patient who doesn’t dread appointments”.You can read the article on C/Net’s blog, Crave.

In other dentistry news, the Dental Benefits Act 2008 was tabled in Parliament on 15 March 2010, and now the Report on the Review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008 has been released.
“The Review looks at the operation of the Act having regard to the attainment of the purposes of the Act; and the administration of the Act, particularly in relation to the Medicare Teen Dental Plan.”You can read the full report on the Department of Health and Ageing website.