Innovation in dentistry
March 20 is World Oral Health Day. It’s an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of taking care of their teeth and, for the University of Montpellier, to highlight the latest innovations in education and care.
Dentistry is a discipline in its own right with a Dental Clinic near the School of Dentistry. In Montpellier, this department is fully committed to education, research, and patient care, always striving for innovation, cutting-edge approaches, and excellence for its students and patients.
As a public institution, it is one of the few hospital dental centers in the eastern part of the region that treats all types of patients with multiple medical conditions. Highly innovative, it is the only regional university hospital of its kind to offer training in both academic and hospital settings in digital prosthesis using 3D printing technology that enable the design of dentures for patients in just 3 hours. It is also known for its “E-dent” telemedicine project, which has received numerous awards and is the most advanced program of its kind in the field of dentistry worldwide. Finally, students receive cutting-edge foundational training with virtual simulators as soon as they enter the college.
Dentistry: An Innovative Component of Hospital and University Care
For years now, dentistry has been embracing digital innovation and robotics. The multidisciplinary team has a fully equipped digital prosthetic rehabilitation unit within the dental care center. This involves capturing images via optical scanning rather than using impressions to design a fixed prosthesis that will fit within the patient’s oral cavity with millimeter precision—all in less than three hours.
A medical unit unique in France has been established, incorporating state-of-the-art digital equipment for these innovative treatments. The team comprising this unit is the most advanced nationally in terms of expertise and research and development in digital prosthetics. It also serves as a reference point for numerous industrial partners in this field to evaluate their latest advancements, thanks to the teams’ relentless daily commitment.
The team is led by two professors of prosthodontics, Prof. Jacques MARGERIT and Prof. Sylvie MONTAL, supported by the department coordinator, Prof. Jean VALCARCEL, and is under the responsibility of Dr. Michel FAGES and Dr. Jean-Cédric DURAND.
This initiative begins with a dedicated university diploma program and a unique digital platform: “Lyra.” It brings together a wide range of machines and digital technologies concentrated in a single location to provide the most advanced training possible for students and practitioners. It is led by the Dean, Prof. Philippe Gibert, who is steeringthe School of Dentistry toward the dentistry of the future.
A center of excellence in telemedicine
Dental telemedicine in Montpellier benefits from cutting-edge expertise. The E-dent project, led by Dr. Nicolas Giraudeau (winner of the e-health award at the National Conference on Organizational Innovation in Healthcare), is the most advanced teledentistry project in the world. It is set to serve as a spearhead for remote telemedicine between the Healthcare Center and private practice. An increasing number of hospital departments are turning to it, including the UCSA and patients in custody at the Villeneuve-les-Maguelone unit.
The teams of dental professionals involved in clinical research have helped the healthcare center become a center of excellence for rare oral and dental diseases (“O-Rares”), under the leadership of Prof. Frédéric Cuisinier and Dr. Pierre-Yves Collard Dutilleul.
Other teams, led by Prof. Dominique Deville de Périère and Prof. Christophe Hirtz, are collaborating—working in synergy within the proteomics platform of Prof. Sylvain Lehmann’s laboratory—on the development of new saliva-based diagnostic tools useful in general health, with results that have established the team as an international expert in this field.
State-of-the-art initial training using… virtual simulators!
In 2017, funding was provided for the renovation of two practical training rooms to support the training of future surgeons. In September 2018, two haptic simulators—the first of their kind in France—will be unveiled. The Montpellier School of Dentistry will thus enter the era of “virtual” education by allowing students to perform all therapeutic procedures and experience the sensations and reactions of patients before actually operating on them.
A public service mission
For years, the dental teams have been providing innovative consultations and care to support the oral health of populations requiring specialized care: patients with disabilities or hospitalized patients with multiple medical conditions. In these cases, oral health plays a key role in diagnosing and predicting their overall health. The medical periodontology clinic, initiated and led by Dr. Orti and Dr. Mertens, treats patients from the metabolic medicine, cardiology, gynecology-obstetrics, and rheumatology departments who have periodontal disease that interferes with their general medical conditions.
Equally specialized consultations at the care center, in both pediatric dentistry and maxillofacial surgery, serve hospitalized patients requiring specific approaches essential in cardiology, oncology, or pediatrics.
Thus, the team working daily atthe UCAA (Outpatient Surgery and Anesthesia Unit) provides care—unique on a national level—every day of the week to numerous patients with specific needs for comprehensive oral rehabilitation, without compromising on quality or long-term outcomes. It is one of the only facilities in France to provide this type of care.
“All these initiatives and innovations are underappreciated assets, patiently built through the daily work of PUPHs, MCUPHs, and staff members, regardless of their status. Indeed, they are all committed to our three missions—teaching, patient care, and research—each with their own subspecialties and unique contributions. For all of them, it is a daily commitment to ensure the best possible training for students and the best public oral health care that we owe to our fellow citizens of all ages and medical conditions—a strength that must be recognized and relied upon by both the University Hospital and the University! ” conclude Professors Philippe Gibert and Jean Valcarcel.