CiPD Collaborating with Wharton’s Mack Institute on Bringing Innovations to Market
Physical prototypes help bring the technology to life.
Philadelphia – The Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), Penn Dental Medicine’s collaborative center with Penn Engineering, has teamed with Wharton’s Mack Institute to explore bringing CiPD’s innovations to market.
“With mounting evidence linking oral and systemic health, we can turn CiPD’s innovations into real-world solutions that reduce the burden of oral diseases and improve overall health,” says Penn Dental Medicine’s Hyun (Michel) Koo, CiPD’s co-founder and Director.
Together, the Mack Institute and CiPD launched a collaborative project to explore how nanorobot technology could transform oral health care. Developed in the labs of Professors Koo and Dr. Edward Steager (Penn Engineering), the technology uses iron oxide nanoparticles to detect and remove harmful dental plaque, combining brushing, flossing, and rinsing into one automated process that requires no manual effort from the user.
Koo believes the technology could have far-reaching impact in clinical settings, where poor oral hygiene and oral pathogens are linked to systemic complications — including cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and hospital-acquired pneumonia — and in the consumer market, where it could help address persistently low brushing and flossing compliance.