KR20180133767A - Pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is to monitor the pain of a patient undergoing a dental procedure and provide feedback on the results thereof to a doctor. To this end, the pain monitoring and feedback system for a dental procedure according to the present invention comprises: a sensing device including a photographing unit for photographing a patient′s appearance to sense a muscle change of a patient undergoing a dental procedure, a heat sensing unit for sensing a change in body temperature of the patient, and a gripping force sensing unit for measuring a gripping force of the patient; and a computing device including a communication unit for receiving data from the sensing device and outputting a signal corresponding to pain information to the outside, a controller for predicting the pain of the patient by analyzing at least one of a muscle change, a body temperature change and a gripping force change of the patient using monitoring data received through the communication unit and outputting a pain signal according to the predicted pain or controlling a procedure device, and a memory for storing data necessary for processing from the controller.

Description

[0002] Pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures [

The present invention relates to a dental pain monitoring and feedback system and method for monitoring the pain of a dental practitioner and feeding back the result to a doctor.

One of the main reasons why a patient is afraid of dental care and avoids it is pain. If there is pain in dental treatment, anesthesia is usually performed before the procedure. However, the degree of anesthesia varies depending on the person, and the time for releasing the anesthesia is also different. Therefore, it is common to check if anesthesia is achieved through communication with the patient, and if the anesthesia is relieved and the pain is felt, raise the hand and inform the doctor.

However, this communication is limited for patients with pediatric, geriatric, mental or physical disabilities. For example, it may take time to communicate to a doctor who is concentrating on the procedure, even though the immediate communication is difficult and the pain is severe. If you have this experience, your patients will be more and more afraid of coming to the dentist, and you will be able to develop related diseases by avoiding periodic dental checkups in the future.

If the patient is confident that he or she can stop the procedure immediately if there is pain, this fear will be reduced and the trauma to the dental procedure can be prevented or treated.

Conventionally, there are methods for displaying the pain that the patient feels by digitizing, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring for a change in a heart condition, and an EEG monitoring for monitoring an EEG. However, the devices for performing these methods are usually expensive, and there is a need to attach a portion capable of detecting radio waves to a part of the body of the patient. In addition, attaching such devices to the body will make the patient more uncomfortable and uneasy about the treatment. Therefore, these methods are difficult to use in dental procedures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for monitoring the pain of a patient without any equipment attached to the body of the patient and feeding back to the user in case of pain.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pain monitoring and feedback system for a dental procedure, including a photographing unit for photographing a patient's state for detecting a change in muscle of a patient undergoing a dental procedure, A sensing unit including a heat sensing unit for sensing a change and a grip force sensing unit for measuring a gripping force of the patient; And a communication unit for receiving data from the sensing device and outputting a signal corresponding to the pain information to the outside, analyzing at least one of a muscle change, a body temperature change and a gripping force change of the patient using the monitoring data received through the communication unit A controller for predicting the pain of a patient, outputting a pain signal according to the predicted pain or controlling a treatment device, and a memory for storing data necessary for processing of the controller.

The control unit determines whether to operate in a priority mode or a normal mode according to the set mode information, and determines a priority to reflect a muscle change, a body temperature change, and a grip strength change in a pain determination, According to the input of the user, when operating in the normal mode, the priority can be determined in accordance with the preset information.

Wherein the control unit sets a threshold value for a muscle change, a body temperature change, and a change in gripping force, and uses the data received from the monitoring unit, the determined priority, and the set threshold value to determine whether the pain of the patient is equal to or greater than a threshold value Or not.

The control unit may output at least one of a notification signal for informing the pain to the output device and a control signal for stopping the dental treatment apparatus when it is determined that the pain of the patient is equal to or greater than a threshold value of the predetermined pain.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for monitoring and feedbacking pain for a dental procedure, comprising: a photographing unit for photographing a patient's state for detecting a muscle change of a patient undergoing a dental procedure; Receiving monitoring data from a grip force sensing unit for measuring the gripping force of the patient; Estimating a pain of a patient by analyzing at least one of a muscle change, a body temperature change, and a grip strength change of the patient using the monitoring data; And outputting a pain signal according to the predicted pain or outputting a control signal for controlling the treatment apparatus.

According to the present invention, information received from a camera, a temperature sensing device, a gravitational force sensing device, and the like is analyzed in a state where no equipment is attached to the patient's body to monitor the pain of the patient, and a feedback signal is sent to the output device or the treatment device .

In addition, according to the present invention, the patient does not need to feel the inconvenience of attaching the equipment to the body, and the fear of dental procedures can be reduced because he / she is aware of the fact that the operation is stopped as soon as the user feels pain.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the doctor can detect the pain of the patient without the need to communicate with the patient or careful examination of the patient, it is possible to concentrate on the procedure.

1 is a view for explaining a configuration of a pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for monitoring and feedbacking pain for dental procedures according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of setting an operation mode and a threshold value when performing pain monitoring and feedback according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

The terms used in this specification will be briefly described and the present invention will be described in detail.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Also, in certain cases, there may be a term selected arbitrarily by the applicant, in which case the meaning thereof will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the term used in the present invention should be defined based on the meaning of the term, not on the name of a simple term, but on the entire contents of the present invention.

When an element is referred to as "including" an element throughout the specification, it is to be understood that the element may include other elements as well, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The term " means ", "part "," module ", etc. in the specification means units for processing at least one function or operation, Lt; / RTI >

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

1 is a view for explaining a configuration of a pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a dental pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures includes a sensing device 14 for sensing changes in muscle, body temperature, and gripping force of a patient undergoing dental procedures, data transmitted by the sensing device 14 And a computing device 10 that informs the user (doctor) or suspends the operation device 19 when it is determined that the patient is feeling pain.

Each of the plurality of sensing units includes a photographing unit 15, a heat sensing unit 16, and a grip force sensing unit (not shown). The sensing unit 14 includes a plurality of sensing units for sensing muscle changes, body temperature changes, 17). The sensing units used in the present invention are not attached to the body of the patient, which is the subject of the present invention. Among them, the imaging unit 15 and the heat sensing unit 16 are disposed apart from the patient's body, .

The photographing unit 15 may be implemented using a camera for photographing a patient's state to detect a change in a muscle of a patient undergoing a dental procedure, and may continuously photograph the patient's state under the control of the control unit 11 And returns the photographed image to the control unit 11 as monitoring data.

The thermal sensing unit 16 may be implemented using a thermal sensing camera or a thermal sensing device for sensing a body temperature of a patient undergoing a dental procedure and continuously measuring the body temperature of the patient under the control signal of the control unit 11. [ And returns the monitoring data generated as a result of the measurement.

The grip strength detecting unit 17 may be implemented using a dynamometer having a shape that can be gripped by the patient in the dental procedure. The grip strength of the patient under treatment is continuously measured according to the control signal of the controller 11, And returns the generated monitoring data.

The computing device 10 includes a communication unit 12 for receiving monitoring data from the photographing unit 15, the thermal sensing unit 16 and the grip force sensing unit 17 and for transmitting signals output from the control unit 11 to an external device, A control unit 11 for analyzing monitoring data including an image of a patient, body temperature information and grip strength information, and a memory 13 for storing data necessary for processing of the control unit 11. [

The control unit 11 predicts the pain of the patient by analyzing at least one of the muscle change, the body temperature change, and the grip strength change of the patient using the monitoring data received through the communication unit 12, and outputs the pain signal according to the predicted pain And outputs it to the device 18 or controls the treatment device 19. [

The output of the pain signal or the transmission of the control signal for controlling the treatment device 19 can also be performed through the communication unit 12. [ The communication unit 12 may include one or more communication modules for exchanging data with the photographing unit 15, the heat sensing unit 16, the grip force sensing unit 17, the output device 18, and the treatment device 19 And there is no restriction on the communication standard used here, and any standard necessary for communication with an external device such as Bluetooth can be used.

The output device 18 may include at least one of a monitor, a speaker, and a vibrating device for communicating information on the degree of pain or degree of pain to the user (physician) Or may be implemented as part of the device 10 or the treatment device 19.

The operation device 19 is a device used by a user for a dental procedure of a patient and can be converted into a pause state in accordance with a control signal from the control section 11. [

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for monitoring and feedbacking pain for dental procedures according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S20, the patient's muscle changes, body temperature changes, and grip strength changes are monitored.

To this end, the control unit 11 receives monitoring data from the sensing device 14 through the communication unit 12, analyzes the change of the patient according to the progress of the procedure based on the reference value before the pain occurs, do. In addition, if the patient feels pain, the degree of pain may be analyzed.

The received monitoring data includes image data in which the photographing unit 15 photographs the patient's image. The control unit 11 analyzes the image of the patient before the procedure is started to determine the muscle condition of the patient before the pain occurs and sets the reference value as a reference value for monitoring the muscle change. During the course of the procedure, the image of the patient, which is periodically received, is analyzed and monitored to see how much it changes from the reference value. In other words, in order to grasp the degree to which the patient feels pain and fizzles the eyes or hair, or the strength of the patient's body is momentarily shrunk, the patient's behavior is changed from the patient's image and the muscle shape and size change Analyze.

In addition, the monitoring data includes body temperature information of the patient detected by the heat sensing unit 16. [ The control unit 11 receives the body temperature information of the patient before the start of the operation and sets it as a reference value for monitoring the body temperature change. During the procedure, the body temperature information of the patient, which is periodically received, is analyzed and monitored to see how much it changes from the reference value.

In addition, the monitoring data includes information on the grip strength of the patient detected by the grip strength sensing unit 17. [ The control unit 11 receives the grip force information of the patient before the start of the procedure and sets it as a reference value for monitoring the grip force change. During the procedure, the grip strength information of the patient, which is periodically received, is analyzed and monitored to see how much it changes from the reference value.

In step S21, the patient's pain information is generated by analyzing the monitoring data.

The control unit 11 analyzes the data received from the photographing unit 15 to monitor the degree of muscle change by monitoring the change of the muscle of the patient in real time, Thereby generating pain information for informing the user if the muscle change is greater than the threshold value.

The threshold value for the muscle change can be preset and can be changed by the user. For example, if the threshold for muscle changes is set at 5%, pain information is generated that indicates that the patient has pain at the time the muscle change is greater than 5%.

The control unit 11 analyzes the data received from the heat sensing unit 16 and monitors the change in the body temperature of the patient in real time to measure the degree of change in the body temperature. When the patient feels pain and the body temperature rises, When the change exceeds the threshold value, pain information is generated to inform the change.

The threshold value for the body temperature change can be preset and can be changed by the user. For example, when the threshold value for the body temperature change is 0.5 ° C, pain information indicating that the patient has pain is generated when the body temperature change is 0.5 ° C or more before the operation.

The control unit 11 analyzes the data received from the grip force sensing unit 17 and monitors the change of the grip force of the patient in real time to measure the degree of change of the grip force and the grip strength of the grip force sensing unit 17 According to 쥠, the pain information is generated to notify when the change of the gripping force with respect to the reference value is equal to or more than the threshold value.

The threshold value for the gravitational force change can be preset and can be changed by the user. For example, when the threshold value for the change in grip force is 30%, pain information indicating that the patient has pain is generated when the grip strength is increased by 30% compared to before the procedure.

As described above, the reference values for muscle changes, body temperature changes, and grip strength changes can be set differently for each patient depending on the data transmitted before the patient's operation. In addition, because the pain felt per patient is subjective, the threshold values for muscle changes, body temperature changes, and grip strength changes may also be set differently depending on the patient.

In step S22, a pain signal is output or the treatment device 19 is controlled according to the pain information.

When at least one of muscle change, body temperature change, and grip strength change exceeds the threshold value, the control unit 11 outputs a pain signal to the output device 18 or stops the dental treatment device 19 And outputs a control signal.

The output device 18 that outputs a pain signal indicating that the patient feels pain above a threshold value is not limited to a specific device but may be a monitor or speaker connected to or provided in the computing device 10, A vibration device provided in a tool, a speaker disposed in the periphery, a dental drill, or other electronic device, or the like, and a pain signal may be output in the form of a visual signal, a sound signal, or a vibration signal. The user recognizes this signal and stops the operation so that the user can respond to the patient's pain.

On the other hand, when the patient shows a change of more than the threshold value, the control unit 11 outputs a control signal for temporarily stopping the operation device 19 to temporarily stop the operation of the operation device 19, .

It is possible to control both the output of the pain signal and the control of the operation device 19 according to the setting of the user or only one of them. For example, if it is determined that it is dangerous to stop the dental procedure to be performed at any time from the patient's pain, it is possible to turn off the control function of the treatment device 19 and operate to output only the pain signal. In this case, when the physician recognizes the patient's pain according to the output of the pain signal, the procedure will be manually stopped at a safe point.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of setting an operation mode and a threshold value when performing pain monitoring and feedback according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step S30, an operation mode for determining the priority of monitoring is set. The operation mode is set to one of the priority mode and the normal mode, and may be set in advance as a default value of the system or may be changed by the user.

In the present invention, there are three types of information used for monitoring: information on muscle changes, information on body temperature changes, and information on changes in grip strength. Depending on the operation mode, which of three pieces of information is to be reflected first will be determined.

In step S31, it is determined whether to operate in the priority mode or the normal mode according to the set mode information. Priority to reflect muscle changes, body temperature changes, and grip strength changes in pain determination may be determined by other methods depending on whether the device operates in the priority mode or the normal mode.

In the priority mode, the user can input a priority for information on muscle changes, information on body temperature changes, and information on changes in grip strength (S32). It is to designate according to the tendency of the patient how to judge the pain by reflecting certain information first.

For example, a patient who is determined to have difficulty in changing grip strength or difficulty in muscle change may be given priority to analyze the pain by first monitoring the body temperature change information. As another example, in the case of patients who have a strong grip and a strong willingness to express pain by gripping force, priority can be given to use the grip strength change information in preference.

The normal mode is a mode that can be used in a general situation, and a priority is determined according to preset information (S33). For example, in the normal mode, the grip force change information that reflects the patient's will to a certain extent may be firstly monitored, then muscle change information may be monitored, and finally, body temperature change information may be monitored.

In step S34, threshold values for the muscle change, body temperature change, and grip strength change of the patient are set. The setting of the threshold value may be performed by using a default value set in the system according to the present invention or by inputting or changing by a user. To this end, an interface may be required to raise or lower the threshold value arbitrarily under the user's judgment.

When all three pieces of information are used for monitoring, a threshold value is set for each of muscle change, body temperature change, and grip strength change. If only one or two pieces of information are used according to priority, a threshold value Only.

The threshold value can be set differently depending on the patient's tendency. For example, in patients who have too many scares to change the grip strength even after a slight pain, the threshold for the grip strength may be set high so that the procedure is stopped only when there is a change in grip strength can do. In addition, for patients with this tendency, it would be possible to turn off the function of stopping the operation and output only a signal indicating that the pain is recognized by the doctor, and manually stop the operation according to the doctor's choice.

In step S35, whether or not the patient feels pain is determined by analyzing the pain using the monitoring data received from the sensing device 14, the priority and the threshold value for each piece of information. At this time, the determination that the patient feels pain means that the patient has pain that exceeds the threshold value of the pain that the patient can tolerate. In other words, the user is informed of the pain or judged to be a significant pain that needs to be stopped.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if any one of the three pieces of information is instantaneously changed in a large width, regardless of the operation mode, the information can be preferentially reflected to analyze the pain. For example, if the grip strength increases momentarily beyond the threshold value, it can be determined that there is pain and the procedure can be stopped immediately.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when reflecting all three pieces of information, a threshold value for the average value of the variation corresponding to the three pieces of information can be set. At this time, it can be determined that the patient feels significant pain when the average value of the muscle change, the body temperature change, and the grip strength change is equal to or greater than the threshold value.

In step S36, a determination is made as to whether to output the notification signal, the control signal, or both the signals. The method of transmitting pain information can be set differently according to the user's experience, the type of procedure, the condition or disposition of the discomfort.

In step S37, when it is determined that the pain of the patient is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value of pain, a notification signal informing the pain to the output device 18 and a control signal for stopping the dental treatment device 19, At least one of them.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of thresholds for three pieces of information can be set, and the pain can be divided into a plurality of steps. For example, if it is determined that there is a pain at the first step by monitoring three kinds of information, the pain signal is outputted to the user so that the user can recognize the pain. If it is determined that there is more severe pain at the second step, You can send it immediately to stop the procedure.

The method according to an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented in the form of a program command which can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, It belongs to the scope of right.

10: computing device
11:
12:
13: Memory
14: Sensing device
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16:
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18: Output device
19: Dental treatment device

Claims (9)

A sensing unit including a photographing unit for photographing a state of a patient to detect a change in muscle of a patient undergoing a dental procedure, a heat sensing unit for sensing a change in body temperature of the patient, and a grip force sensing unit for measuring a gripping force of the patient. And
A communication unit for receiving data from the sensing device and outputting a signal corresponding to the pain information to the outside, and analyzing at least one of a muscle change, a body temperature change and a gripping force change of the patient using the monitoring data received through the communication unit, And a memory for storing the data required for processing the control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to predict a pain of the user, to output a pain signal according to the predicted pain, Pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
Determines whether to operate in the priority mode or the normal mode according to the set mode information,
Wherein the priority determination unit determines a priority to be applied to the muscle change, the body temperature change, and the grip strength change in the pain determination. In the case of operating in the priority mode, when the user operates in the normal mode, Wherein the pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures comprises: 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein,
Determining whether or not the pain of the patient is equal to or greater than a threshold value of the pain using data received from the monitoring unit, the determined priority, and the set threshold value; Wherein the pain monitoring and feedback system for dental procedures comprises: The method according to claim 1,
Wherein,
Wherein at least one of a notification signal for informing the pain to the output device and a control signal for stopping the dental treatment device is output when the pain of the patient is judged to be equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value of pain, Feedback system. A monitoring unit for capturing a state of a patient to detect a change in a muscle of a patient undergoing a dental procedure, a heat sensing unit for sensing a change in body temperature of the patient, and a monitoring data receiving unit for receiving monitoring data from a grip force sensing unit ;
Estimating a pain of a patient by analyzing at least one of a muscle change, a body temperature change, and a grip strength change of the patient using the monitoring data; And
And outputting a pain signal according to the predicted pain or outputting a control signal for controlling the operation device. 6. The method of claim 5,
The pain prediction step may include:
Determining whether to operate in a priority mode or a normal mode according to the set mode information; And
Wherein the priority determination unit determines a priority to be applied to the muscle change, the body temperature change, and the grip strength change in the pain determination. In the case of operating in the priority mode, when the user operates in the normal mode, The method comprising the steps < RTI ID = 0.0 > of: < / RTI > The method according to claim 6,
The pain prediction step may include:
Determining whether or not the pain of the patient is equal to or greater than a threshold value of the pain using data received from the monitoring unit, the determined priority, and the set threshold value; ≪ / RTI > further comprising the step of: < / RTI > 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the outputting step comprises:
And outputting at least one of a notification signal for notifying the pain to the output device and a control signal for stopping the dental treatment apparatus when it is determined that the pain of the patient is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value of pain Pain monitoring and feedback methods. 9. A computer program recorded on a recording medium for performing the dental procedure pain monitoring and feedback method of any one of claims 5-8.

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