Bay Area dentist uses robot for procedures

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A trip to the dentist is often the last thing people want to do. The thought of drilling, root canals and dental implants is enough to strike fear into people.

But what if you were going to the dentist to have your procedure done by a robot? It’s what one Pinellas County dentist is offering, and it’s a technological advancement he says will soon become the norm.

Inside Dunedin Family Dentistry, the instructions may sound the same at first. The needles and drills are all part of the process.

But things are a little different at this visit to the dentist after the x-rays, impressions and face scans. These are all used to make sure this robotic assistant gets dental implantation just right.

“What the Yomi is, is a robotic assistant implant surgical system. So, before this technology was available, implants were done in ways that were not quite as accurate,” said Dunedin Family Dentistry owner, Dr. Carver Little. “The robot will guide your hand according to what you’ve planned. So, it means there’s no need to cut any tissue. It’s minimally invasive, human error is removed, and it is 100% accurate. The implant goes exactly where we place it.”

Little said this technology has been around for a couple years, but it’s still rare to see it in dental offices. He said he thinks that won’t be the case much longer.  

“FDA approval for this came out in 2019, dentistry is a little sometimes slow to pick up some of the more cutting-edge things, so there is no other office in Palm Harbor that has this technology right now, and I think there may be one other office in all of Tampa Bay that has this robotic surgery,” he said.

It’s a tool that’s still surprising to him.

“I hate to say it, but you can almost do an implant with your eyes closed,” he said. “This was science fiction a couple years back. Things we can do now were inconceivable when I was in dental school. There’s a huge digital revolution in dentistry, and I’m going to say this is just the beginning.”

Brian Bolles said that when he was given the option of either having an invasive procedure with a dentist or a calculated dental implant done by a robot, he chose the robot.

“It seemed like they were a little more precise with the drilling rather than being unsteady. It seemed like it was straightforward and quick and easy,” he said.

Once all the prep work and scans were done, he said it was faster than expected. Bolles said he’d for sure choose the robot again.

“Sure, why not?” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to have a robot in their mouth?”

Little said it’s just another way to change the conversation about a visit to the dentist from being about pain to being about progress.