Development of a clinical jaw movement training robot for intermaxillary traction therapy

Abstract

We developed a jaw movement training robot system implementing a 6-degree of freedom (DOF) parallel mechanism, and applied it to jaw opening and closing training, which is one of the therapies for temporomandibular joint disorders. As one application of this system, we developed an intermaxillary traction therapy system that provides non-physiological movements, whereby the patients' jaws receive traction to regenerate healthy temporomandibular joint tissue. This therapy is especially effective for patients with a symptom called "open bite", i.e. those who cannot completely close their jaws. Additionally, the previously developed mastication robot was applied to this robot system as a patient model, and the training movements of the training robot were evaluated.