LASERS IN DENTAL TREATMENT WITHOUT NEEDLES AND DRILLS
Dr Omar Zuaiter
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Dentroid
Alaa Habeb
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Dentroid
Professor Laurence Walsh
Chief Dental Officer, Dentroid &
Emeritus Professor, School of Dentistry, University of Queensland &
Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Queensland
Professor Heiko Spallek
Member Scientific Advisory Committee, Dentroid &
Head of School and Dean of The University of Sydney School of Dentistry
BENCH SIDE STORY CASE STUDY
Filmed in Brisbane, Canberra & Sydney | December 2024
In 2017, Dr. Omar Zuaiter and Alaa Habeb launched Dentroid, a dental technology startup with a mission to make dentistry a kinder and friendlier experience for patients and dentists using photonics (using laser technology) and robotics, as alternatives to needles, drills and sprays. The vision for the startup is to have dentistry adopt laser technology, addressing the root causes of dental pain & anxiety, and create a pain-free dental experience.
Dentroid is pioneering the adoption of femtosecond lasers in dentistry which will be their first surgical application outside eye surgery. Unlike conventional dental lasers or rotary instruments, femtosecond lasers have a very unique ability to precisely cut through the most resistant materials without requiring cooling or causing thermal damage. This “cold cutting” creates convenience for the patient, clearer vision for the practitioner and a cleaner environment in the office without microbes laden droplets.
A key distinctive feature of femtosecond laser in “cold cutting” is that it leaves the underlying tissues unharmed with the aim of supporting faster healing with less postoperative complications.
Dentroid envisages femtosecond lasers, combined with their patented miniaturised robotic technology will change the way dental tissues and restorative materials are prepared, processed and bonded not only in clinics but also in dental labs.
To support this mission, Dentroid has assembled a multidisciplinary team of world-renowned experts in dentistry and medicine, engineering, robotics, physics, medical sciences and AI informatics together with commercialisation and growth minds who helped scale startups grow to much larger organisations.
In this Bench Side Story Case Study release, we spoke with some of the key people involved in Dentroid mission and commercialisation journey.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
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Joy Wolfram is an Associate Professor at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia. Originally from Finland, she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology before transitioning to engineering with a PhD in nanotechnology completed in China. Wolfram has over a decade of experience working in hospitals in the United States before joining the University of Queensland.
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