元宇宙紀元內的顱顏障礙症之精準治療
Wen-Liang LO羅文良
Institute of Oral Biology, Department of Dentistry, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and Department of Stomatology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
國立陽明交通大學 牙醫學系及口腔生物研究所 及 臺北榮民總醫院 口腔醫學部
Human differences in disease phenotype and treatment responses are well documented. Technological advances now allow healthcare providers to improve the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases by stratifying patient populations. Although personalized medicine has great promise, it has, so far, been primarily applied in oncology. Wider adoption requires changes in the healthcare system and in clinical decision-making, and early applications of personalized medicine appear to require strong clinical utility and sufficient value to drive adoption. Personalized medicine is likely to enter dentistry as patients
start to demand it and as novel diagnoses and treatments are developed for pathways common to oral diseases.
The metaverse is an extension of the internet that allows users to interact with each other and the environment around them. This is achieved using various types of technologies, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). These scenarios may seem far from our daily teaching activity or segregated to research labs only. While virtual education spaces such as Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet are the new norm, the creation of digital laboratories is also a reality: real online players are challenged to solve difficult scientific problems.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is now a reality in dentistry. A significant advancement is the use of haptic gloves that would let dental students feel virtual objects while practicing suturing or giving a nerve block – this can significantly improve the students’ technique over time and give them, for example, immediate feedback with respect to needlepoint insertion. While initial costs for such systems might seem high now, the hardware is proven to be cost-effective in the long term.
Dentistry, too, will evolve in the near future, taking a cue from medical health practices in their exploration of the metaverse. Soon, we might have dental telehealth conversations in a virtual metaverse with our avatars indulging in dental health consultations with patients.
Therefore, we propose a protocol of precision medicine for craniomandibular disorders based on previous and ongoing research, and its possible application in the dental metaverse, “Dentominiverse”.
